


Yes I Totally Run A Gang What Are You Talking About

by Kangarooblu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Bullying, Crying, Depictions of Minimal Violence, Fluff, M/M, babies in gangs, it's a weird sort of gang au, what can i say, with overprotective gang leader noya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-03 09:33:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4095931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kangarooblu/pseuds/Kangarooblu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nishinoya Yuu was more than ready to take down one of the most infamous names in the (high school) gangster world: Azumane Asahi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> yoooo so i've had this done for forever, wasn't happy with it, and figured i'd fix it up before summer and post it and-shit whAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S ALREADY JUNE??
> 
> so here is my pathetic attempt at another asanoya au
> 
> thank you so very much for reading!! i hope you have a great day! ovo

There is strength in numbers.

Sure, one person with enough power can take on anyone without a hitch and come out victorious, but people tend to be more intimidated if confronted by a team. This team doesn't even have to be all that large, they just have to have the fear factor, or the reputation, to make up for it.

Nishinoya had a team, a small one, comprised of only three other members besides himself, and it absolutely sucked. Because though he had the people, they certainly didn't have the reputation. Hinata was a bundle of red-haired fluff and joy, and Sugawara was scary at times, but all around too motherly and nice. Tanaka was the only one to actually look tough enough and be taken seriously as a gangster, but he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, and was so easily outwitted no one really cared to take him on.

Noya, as the leader of the gang, held the most authority, but out of everyone else, he was the least respected. Hell, other hoodlums took Hinata more seriously than him, all because Hinata actually acted his age and had a couple more inches over his elder. Noya was short, but tried hard to stand tall, he tricked himself out all punk like, ditched class, ect. but no one ever took him seriously enough to confront him.

He always dreamed of becoming a household name, of getting a hella sick reputation, of being able to walk down the street with his posse and know that everyone's attention was on them. He wanted people to know not to mess with his gang. Well, they didn't mess with them anyway, but that was just because no one even knew they existed.

He really wanted someone to mess with them. He didn't want to get into a fight per se, seeing as he really didn't want anyone from the _Karasuno Crow 'n Go's_ getting hurt, even though they were in a gang and gang members got hurt all the time.

Noya kinda overlooked that.

It really sucked.

He let out an exasperated sigh.

School was boring, and though school was the only reason he had his gang in the first place, he didn't like it. More accurately, he didn't like _schoolwork_. Especially math, math was the _worst_.

Even if it was the only class he was getting an A in, which even he found weird, seeing as he was Nishinoya Yuu, who infamously barely passed his high school entrance exam by one point.

He got straight C's in all of his other classes, but for some reason unbeknownst to him, he excelled at math, to the point where that he was put into a math course that usually only third years where allowed to take.

It was in this class he was doodling new schemes and plans and ideas in order to build an actual reputation for his gang.

He thought of 'borrowing' a lizard from the local pet store and letting it loose around the school, hence why he was currently drawing Godzilla in his notebook. Then Noya realized that no one would know who let the lizard go in the first place and it would be a pain in the ass to return it. When he said borrow he meant it, even cool gang leaders could be at least a little respectful of other people's property. Being punk also meant being responsible.

The bell then rang, telling the students that the glorious time of lunch had arrived, and all at once the scraping of desks and shuffling of feet resounded around the room. Some students slowly milled around, catching up with friends or setting up their lunches in the classroom.

Others, i.e. Noya, bolted to the door and raced down the stairs to find another place to consume their freshly packed lunches.

Noya's math class was on the third floor of the school, and he needed to get the the bottom of the stairwell ASAP, meaning he went from a normal person's speed to fucking roadrunner in the span of three seconds.

Way back when he first started up the _Crow 'n Go's_ in his first year, he decided that they would have daily meetings underneath the base of the stairs. Why the stairs though? It might have something to do with the fact Noya read his little sisters shojo manga in his spare time and knew that the roof was way too stereotypical to be used as a meeting place. Not to mention there was a surprising amount of room underthe stairwell, and nobody went there typically. And if they were to get caught loitering around, they would only receive a minimal amount of punishment. Even though gang members were _supposed_ to get in trouble. Oh well.

"Yo bro! What's shakin'?" Noya startled Tanaka with his outburst. Tanaka nearly choked on a mouthful of rice.

"Jesus! Give a guy a little warning before you start spouting like a foghorn, will ya?" he sneered, pulling his usual 'intimidating' snarl.

Ironically, Tanaka was even louder than Nishinoya.

"Bro, bro calm down. Eat the rice." Noya tried to pacify his friend, pulling his hands up in surrender.

"Fuckin' fine." Tanaka was too hungry to argue at this point.

Noya nestled himself down next to Tanaka, pulling out his own scratched up metal lunch box, flipping the lid off. He was about to dig in when he realized it was much too quiet.

"Hey, where's everyone else?" he questioned, utensil of choice being a pair of chopsticks that were currently hovering over his food.

"Not here, man."

Noya rolled his eyes, "I can tell. But seriously, where are they?"

"Hinata's probably busy cramming for a test he forgot to study for or something. Suga, you can guess."

"Flirting with Daichi?"

Tanaka nodded in response, his mouth occupied by a tremendous amount of rice and a bite of sandwich.

Noya sighed a, "Dude, this gang is falling to pieces," kind of sigh.

"Rack and ruin, bro," Tanaka answered.

"Should that be our new name? _Rack and Ruin?_ I like it!"

"Yeah, but there's no 'crow' in the title. Aren't school gangs supposed to have the school's mascot in the name?"

"Yeah, yeah, I just thought, ya know, maybe a new, cooler name, and people might start to-"

"Seriously fear us?"

"-take us _seriously_ , bro,"

"Like they already think the _Crow 'n Go's_ are serious."

"We are!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Noya picked away at his lunch angrily for the rest of the period. _We will be taken seriously_ , he promised himself. _We will._

"I swear!"

Nishinoya jumped up and struck a pose that to him said _hell yeah I'm so gonna do this_ , and to the innocent bystander looked like _what the fuck is that little kid even doing and how did he get into a high school, shouldn't he be learning shapes and numbers at the elementary school across the street?_

His heart was more or less in the right place, and he knew that this time around, he was going to make his gang famous throughout the city, he really would.


	2. Chapter 2

Noya knew it wouldn't be easy. It hadn't been easy so far and it wouldn't get any easier, but he didn't think it would be this hard to rack up fame with his newfound determination.

Nishinoya pushed his antics up another level; the pranks he'd pull around school every month or so were now every week, he started spray painting other surfaces besides the abandoned building he frequented in the bad part of town, he stopped picking up litter on the street, he spat his gum on the sidewalk, but none of it made any difference.

Noya thought if he could up his A game that something was bound to happen, that maybe a member of Nekoma's _Clawing Cats_ would pick up on his actions and start spreading information and rumors and then suddenly the _Crow 'n Go's_ would be famous.

That never happened.

Something similar did.

After school, Noya decided to cancel another planned gang meeting, because again, no one bothered to showed up. He was wandering around aimlessly, having nothing to do now, and was trying to come up with an idea as to _what_ to do, when he bumped into Hinata at gaming store.

Hinata wasn't alone. He was with Kenma.

Kozume Kenma, also known as the right hand man to the captain of the _Clawing Cats_. Of course Nishinoya puffed out his chest in his presence, declaring how great he and his gang were and that they could totally take on Nekoma's gang, to which Kenma replied with,

"Who? I've never heard of you..."

Which is why now, after that incident, Noya was sulking in one of the plastic-y blue booths of his favorite ice cream shop. He spent an embarrassing amount of time there, practically every minute that wasn't spent goofing around with Tanaka, doing punk things, at school, or at home, was spent at _I Like To Spoon! Ice Cream Extraordinaire_ , where he'd usually be doing homework or planning more gang activities.

Noya's arms were sprawled out on the table in front of him, his face flat against the hard polished wood, and his entire body slumped up against it at an odd angle. He had already drowned his sorrows in three soda flavored ice cream bars, and he had one on a plate melting next to him.

He recognized a couple of people sitting in the booth in front of him, Ennoshita and Narita, and 'accidentally' started listening in on their conversation.

"Have you heard how the cops are finally cracking down on all the gang activity around town?" Ennoshita started off.

Narita stopped sucking on the straw of his milkshake to reply.

"Yeah! I read an article on how the chief of police said he wanted everyone to 'take it seriously'."

"It's a wonder they haven't arrested _him_."

"Him?"

"Yeah, him."

"..."

"Don't tell me you don't know."

"I shouldn't say anything then?"

"Alright, okay, so this _him_ is a guy who's said to be the leader of a major prostitution ring, deals illegal foreign drugs, has broken out of jail seven times, beaten up countless gangsters from all over the country, and apparently the government's lost track of how many years he's been in high school."

"Wait, wait, why haven't the police gotten to _him_ yet?"

"They don't exactly have proof of all these things. This guy is just that good."

"So everyone knows he's doing all this, but there's no evidence, so he can't be arrested?"

"Yep. I know I'd be impressed if someone were to get to this guy."

"A lot of people probably would."

Noya snapped straight up. He completely disregarded the puddle of popsicle to his left, and the stickiness between his fingers.

_Him._

If he could find this guy and take him down, he'd be famous amongst gangs and regular folk alike.

"Hey, Ennoshita, what's his name?"

"I think it's Azumane or something. He goes to Karasuno, actually."

"What! We've been going to school with a criminal?"

Ennoshita had a mouth full of ice cream sandwich, so he could only reply to the exasperated Narita to his left with a nod and a vague 'mm hmm' sound.

Nishinoya finally had a name and a place and a plan on how to finally be taken seriously.

All he needed was to put it into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gueeess who doesn't know how to write ennoshita or nariiiitaaaaaa
> 
> (hint: it's me)
> 
> also the chapters will officially start getting longer now!!


	3. Chapter 3

This was probably the worst day of Azumane Asahi's life.

Well, okay, he's had bad days rather a lot, but it pained him to admit that this day could challenge all the other terrible ones he's had and win.

Meaning today was the worst day Asahi has had in over one-thousand-ninety-five days bad days.

He was not a lucky man.

Boy, actually. He was not a lucky boy; he was still in high school after all. Despite the fact his physical appearance made him look well into his thirties at best, he was only in his third year of high school.

On that, his three years of high school had been absolutely miserable.

Sure he was taller than the average Japanese student, sure he worked at his uncles gardening warehouse every summer and had built up quite a bit of muscle, sure he could actually grow facial hair, sure he had long hair he kept just because he didn't like the way he looked without it; just because he looked older and maybe a little bit menacing didn't mean he was older or a menace. He was still a kid at heart.

A shy, terrified, anxiety prone, weak-hearted kid.

That's who he was, not a dealer of illegal substances, not a man who had been in high school for five years, not a gangster, nothing of that sort.

Everyone just thought that.

It started the moment he stepped through the doors of his high school on the first day of the semester. Right then, the rumors had started. People talked badly about him and what they assumed of his life. In response, Asahi tried closing himself off, letting his shy side take over. He tended to stay out of the way. That was presumed as shady in other people's eyes, made it look like he was trying to hide something. So he decided to take a slightly more active part; he joined the volleyball club his first year and found a love for the sport. He even managed to land an ace position on the school's team.

Though his actions this time, again, prompted a bad response from others. They thought he was trying to cover up his apparent notorious actions by joining the wholesome volleyball team. When he was on the team, though, he didn't mind the rumors. He was actually happy playing volleyball, he didn't care about what was said about him, he had volleyball to protect him.

Sadly at the end of his first year, the team got disbanded for lack of players, and his teammates and friends found it harder and harder to stay in touch and eventually stopped hanging out altogether.

The new rumor was Asahi had been caught dealing drugs to the coach and that was why the whole volleyball club had to be shut down.

It was all his fault.

That's all he heard and all he felt. It was his fault the team was no longer active, it was his fault he looked so scary, it was his fault that bad people would try to corner him, it was his fault when they ran screaming when he didn't even do anything, it was his fault everyone was terrified of him.

It was all his fault.

Earlier that morning he felt the words again, but in a different context.

It was his fault his dad had gotten drunk the night before and couldn't get himself ready for work.

Neither Asahi nor his mother could figure out how to deal with him like this, both the elder Azumanes were lovely people with soft, cushiony hearts just like their son's. Especially Asahi's father, he was the kindest soul you could meet, always wearing a smile.

They didn't know why he drink himself sick or why he'd always try to pass off his hangovers with a gentle smile and a "Oh, sorry, I just have a headache, I'll call in sick to work, maybe."

His mother was a caring woman and would try to nurse her husband back to health as best she could in the mornings before heading off herself. She wouldn't be back until much later, thus was the life of an accountant, but the stress of having to take care of her husband and her child and herself was starting to take it's toll on her.

Yet their family dinners were always polite and smiley and soft spoken and nobody mentioned anything when Mr. Azumane took a bottle from the cabinet and went out to sit on the steps in the middle of the night or the wrinkles and creases that grew more and more each day in Mrs. Azumane's forehead.

They were a loving, extremely secretive people.

Asahi spent the morning making breakfast for his father and leaving it out with a bottle of aspirin, looking down at his fathers sleeping figure on the couch in defeat.

Neither one of his parents wanted to start fights or drama or end up divorced, so they chose not to see any of their problems.

They chose not to see the bruises Asahi would sometimes return home with or hear the rumors about their son.

As Asahi exited his home, he pulled out a book and managed to walk down the street while reading it. He mastered the art of reading and walking as a defensive measure; he would rather focus on words and his thoughts than on his surroundings and the schoolgirls whispering about him on their way to school.

He mastered this technique, or so he thought, because he somehow found himself wedged in between a little old woman and her cabbage cart that was threatening to tip over without realizing it. Frantically, he tried to steady her cart and catch the falling cabbages, much to the older woman's delight, and return them safely to their places.

He caught a few stares as he apologized again and again and the little old woman just shook her head and thanked him profusely. The whole exchange took around twenty minutes, and by the time Asahi got to school, he was late by five.

Though he was sure someone would say he was late by at least two class periods, he was almost sure of it.

He tried not to sweat through his shirt in his now panicky state, and power walked up to his classroom. Of course somebody would say he was running at an ungodly speed to get there, probably.

He apologized to the teacher multiple times and was let off the hook by her easily, being simply told to take a seat.

That was something he noticed, while Asahi's peers seemed to be scared of him, those who were older or younger than him thought he was delightful.

Little kids at the park would try to climb him like playground equipment and would invite him to share in their lunches of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and carrot sticks, the older generation would comment and laugh about how respectful he was, and his teachers were fond of the fact he always turned his homework in on time and how polite he was to them.

Asahi noticed this, but didn't dwell on it. He thought in his heart of hearts he must be at least somewhat as terrible as his fellow teenagers thought of him, right? Right. Somehow, it all had to be his fault.

When the teacher called for the assignment that was due today, a number of people groaned. Asahi wasn't one of them. He just took out his essay and laid it out neatly in front of him.

However his relief didn't last when he heard the words "Pull out the books you're supposed to have for your report."

He didn't know why, really, I mean he had his book right there-

It wasn't in his bag. Or in his desk. Or on his person.

He must have dropped it when he had the run in with the cabbage lady.

Oh no.

Everyone in the class picked up on his panic and shifted uncomfortably, whispering and giggling and he swore he heard one person say "I bet he's gonna throw a desk out of the window, look how mad he is!"

He wasn't mad.

Asahi was terrified.

Luckily the bell rang, signaling the next class, and he almost let himself give a relieved sigh.

He wouldn't be that relieved for the rest of the day.

He was caught passing someone else's notes in his next class, and though he was given a small reprimand from his teacher, the other students took it as a serious offense.

In his next class they needed to partner up for a project, and Asahi was left as the odd one out of the bunch.

While walking to the bathroom he tripped over his own shoelaces and bumped into another kid, who gave a blood curdling scream and bolted away from him.

At lunch Asahi realized he spent so much time making his father breakfast he forgot to pack himself a lunch.

During gym, he was the last one standing on the dodgeball court, despite not throwing a single ball at anyone nor having one thrown at him. He stood there, all alone, accidentally staring down the one other player with such (accidental) intensity when Asahi managed to open up his vocal cords and to try and say something like, "You can just hit me, if you want. I don't really care about winning," before he could even choke out a word the kid peed himself and had to be excused for the rest of the day.

Asahi's whole day was strung out like this, and at the end of it, he somehow spilled the entire contents of his bag onto the floor and spent another ten minutes re-sorting everything when all he wanted to do was go home and nap the bad events of his day away.

He wouldn't get that nap.

Fate just had to make things even more worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who has to make asahi's home life a nightmare? i think you can guess without a hint


	4. Chapter 4

Nishinoya Yuu was currently having the best day in his entire life.

He woke up exactly on time this morning, and of his own accord no less. Usually the wails and laughter of his two younger siblings woke him up bright and early, but this time Noya was awoken by the sound of his alarm clock. Though it was odd, the sound of the BEEP BEEP BEEP was somehow pleasant compared to the, "Stupid-head wake up! Breakfast is on the table! Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast!" he was so used to hearing.

Every morning, some unknown force (called his younger twin siblings) would steal the hair gel he kept in the bathroom specifically for his own purposes, and play with it incessantly, creating the dilemma of constantly running out of the precious jelly substance. This morning, however, he had more than enough in the jar to keep his hair stuck up just the way he liked it.

It was a blessing from the gods.

His mom also made him an omelette that was to die for, a special treat she made very rarely, and his little sister even let Nishinoya do her hair and didn't complain about how hard he pulled it and actually thanked him with a big hug and a cheeky grin that was an exact copy of his own.

Noya even made it to school on time, which was basically unheard of for him.

He ended up acing the history test he was sure he failed.

The gods were probably messing with him, this was all too good to be true.

He didn't get caught passing a note in class that had a crudely drawn picture of the teacher on it, some poor kid who he couldn't catch a glimpse of from his spot in the back of the class got the blame instead. Noya almost got on his hands and knees and thanked whatever deity he could think of at that moment.

It just so happened that the class he passed the note was _the_ advanced math class that Noya was placed in at the beginning of the year, and if he got caught doing anything in that class, though he was 'gifted', he would be sent straight to remedial math.

God bless whoever was watching out for him in these trying times.

Next period, Noya actually knew the answer the teacher asked him in his next class when he was caught dozing off.

At lunch he made Tanaka laugh so hard milk came spraying out his nose in a huge puddle.

Both Suga and Hinata apologized to him for not going to the last couple of meetings and promised to be at the next one.

Noya had spent some time lurking in the shadows of the school, listening in and gathering information on this Azumane guy. After picking up nothing of interest from his classmates, he ended up trying to bribe janitor Ukai into letting him in on some top secret info. Ukai hit him upside the head and yelled at him for making Tanaka create the mess he had to clean up.

Nishinoya then went to Takeda, his favorite teacher, and he told Noya which class Azumane was in, that his first name was Asahi, showed him the most recent photo the school had of him, and even gave him his home phone number; all while Takeda went on and on about how he hoped the two of them would become friends.

Noya had to hold back a sarcastic and vaguely offensive comment, but he really was extremely grateful to Takeda, and absolutely giddy with excitement.

He had virtually no homework for the day as well.

This was positively one of the best days of his life.

One thing made it better.

He just so happened to run into Azumane Asahi, in all his big gangster glory, all alone after school.

Oh what a great day it was.

Noya had spent probably too much time packing up his things, doing so peacefully and calmly as opposed to how he would usually just throw his stuff in his bag and run, but today he decided to savor the moment and take his time, and boy, was he lucky he did.

Most students had fled the area before him, so Noya practically skipped down the halls and hummed loudly to himself, jumping and shouting when he thought it fit appropriately to the tune, and stopped in his tracks as he exited out through the back entrance of the school (that almost nobody used) to find Azumane Asahi, quietly walking along the path that led out from the back of the school to the gates around on the other side.

This was the perfect opportunity, Noya couldn't let this slip through his fingers.

He raked his hands through his hair to make it even spiker, ruffled his clothes up, puffed his chest out, and pointed an accusing finger down the dusty trail.

He sucked in a big breath of air and summoned all his courage to bellow out a loud, demanding,

"You!"

Azumane Asahi flinched so hard he rammed into the side of the building, cautiously turning around.

"M-me...?" he seemed to choke out. He just stood there, eyes wide and fear on his face. Noya found that weird, shouldn't he be all up and on his chase for calling him out? Shouldn't he be more...threatening? This guy looked like he was gonna wet himself.

After a few minutes in which no one made a move, Noya took a few long strides up to Asahi, arms crossed, and his best sinister look written across his features. Time for him to use the best of his acting ability.

He had very little acting ability.

"Yeah, you! Azumane Asahi! The name's Nishinoya; Nishinoya Yuu! I bet you've heard that name around, huh, punk?"

"...N-n-no? I-I mean I d-don't think-"

"What?! How could you not have heard of me? Leader of the Karasuno _Crow 'n Go's?_ Ya know, the big gang around here?"

"Uh...n-no?"

"First you show your face around my territory, then you insult me! Tsk, tsk, Mister Azumane, tsk fucking tsk."

Noya slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand, smirking up at the taller boy in front of him.

"I think Imma have to teach you a lesson."

Noya's stern face faltered for a moment when he finally got a good look at Asahi. He was practically a puddle, shaking like a newborn lamb, all stiff in the shoulders. He looked positively terrified, which made Noya break his facade for just a second, a quick little second to be puzzled over.

Wasn't this illegal-substance-dealing-creepy-gangster supposed to be terrifying Nishinoya? Not the other way around?

Asahi then did something neither of them expected.

He cried.

No, he fucking sobbed.

Snot and tears rolled down his cheeks as he put his hands up over his face, both in defense of the pummeling that was to come and to hide his own embarrassment.

Noya didn't know what to do. He was at a loss for words. All Noya knew was the he was gaping at a guy who was _supposed_ to be in jail right now, but instead Azumane Asahi was crying and trembling over a kid that was a good foot shorter than him.

Nishinoya didn't know what to do.

He panicked.

"Oh my god, holy shit, please stop, please please stop crying! I can handle yelling and screaming and threats as far as the eye can see, but I _can't_ do crying-oh man-oh man, I'm sorry! I promise I won't hurt you, it was an act, I'm _so_ sorry! Please don't cry anymore! I'll buy you ice cream? I swear, we can go get ice cream and put this whole behind us just-oh god-please stop crying!"

Asahi was still sniffling and wiping at his eyes, his palms now digging into his eye sockets as Noya frantically buzzed around him in all directions, patting his elbows reassuringly but fuck-how do you pat elbows reassuringly? That was the only part of Asahi's arm he could reach at the moment, and he felt like some physical contact could help. It helped when his siblings cried and got upset, arm pats and rubbing their backs slowly in circles always did the trick, so that should still apply here, right?

Um, no.

Asahi was huge compared to his siblings-not to mention extremely awkward-and Noya really didn't want to upset him further by unwanted physical contact.

Awkward reassuring elbow pats and the promise of ice cream it was, then.

After a while of that, Asahi managed to get to a point where he tried to stifle hiccups, which didn't work, and dry his face as best he could, now looking at the ground, still shaking and mortified.

Noya crouched down underneath him and popped into Asahi' line of vision.

"Ice cream?" he offerend, again.

Asahi mutely nodded in response.

Their travel to _I Like To Spoon!_ was met with silence and the shuffling of feet and the occasional sniffle. Every so often Noya would try to break the silence with a badly timed joke or a story he thought was funny, which really didn't help much, it just made everything that much more awkward.

Noya used this time to go over a few things. He evaluated that 1: Azumane Asahi was a weeny baby bunny, 2: Azumane Asahi probably could hurt someone if he wanted to, given his size, but most likely refused to even kill flies in the summer, 3: He practically jumped this Azumane Asahi, who was about as strong willed as a goldfish, and finally, 4: He made him _fucking cry_.

Boy, did Noya feel like an asshole.

Finally, they got to the ice cream shop, with Noya practically pushing Asahi into his regular blue booth. He then went and ordered two chocolate sundaes and a soda popsicle, and brought all three items back to the table, balancing the sundaes on his upper arms. He grinned when Asahi frantically offered to help him, concerned that ice cream would go flying everywhere.

Eventually everything go sorted out and the two settled back into uncomfortable silence.

Noya's plan was to eat through the silence, shoving as much ice cream into his face as he could, while Asahi poked and prodded his with a long spoon.

Eventually Noya ran out of ice cream and stalling time, and decided to get right down to business.

"Okay so...sorry for all that. Totally uncool of me, huge dick move on my part."

Asahi seemed startled by his sudden confession, or maybe he was startled at the fact Noya was pink in the face and looking out the window with a pout and a sheepish expression.

When Asahi didn't respond, Noya continued talking.

"And no offense, but you don't seem like you'd willingly hurt anyone or anything, not to mention you really don't seem like the illegal activity type, what gives?"

Asahi opened his mouth, trying to find the words, then shut his jaw with a small snap and went back to prodding his ice cream. Noya rested his head on his palms, elbows hoisting him up on the counter, and scooted forward.

"I mean, do you really do all the stuff people say you do? 'Cause I don't think I buy it." _Or at least I don't anymore._

"W-what do they s-say about m-m-me?"

Noya could tell he was treading on dangerous territory by the sound of his voice, but he had to know for sure.

"How long have you been in high school?"

"I'm...I'm a third year?"

"Yeah, but how long have you been a third year?"

"Um, since the beginning of the semester?"

"So this is your third year of high school?"

"Y-yes?"

It was starting to sound like an interrogation.

"You ever beat someone to death?"

"N-never!"

"Do you deal drugs?"

"No!"

"How about run a prostitution ring?"

"God-no!"

"On the run from the government?"

"D-do people really-"

"Think this stuff is factual? Yes."

Asahi's bottom lip quivered and shit it looked like he was going to cry again. Noya went into overprotective panic mode.

"But they're obviously so wrong!"

"N-no it's...I-I don't care what they think."

Asahi was back to looking down at his bowl of melted ice cream, a certain pain in his voice that made Noya's chest tighten and his eyes fly open. Asahi definitely cared what people thought of him. Noya stared long and hard at him, trying to think of something else that could be comforting to say, when he noticed the bruise on Asahi's jaw.

"...Can I ask one more question?"

He nodded.

"Do you ever get cornered by gang members?"

"I thought I just did?"

"...Did you just call _me_ a gangster?"

"I-I'm sorry! Y-you said-I thought-"

"You called me a gangster! Oh my god, you remembered? I can't believe it! Tell me, was I scary? Intimidating? Did I strike fear into your very core?"

Noya was bouncing out of his seat, stars in his eyes, and Asahi was very confused by all this.

"Very, _very_ , and yes. D-didn't you say you were a gang leader-"

"Damn right I am! No one ever remembers that, or they think I'm too 'short' or stupid or weak or whatever, but I know I'm an awesome leader!"

"Y-you're very-"

"Fuck yeah I am!"

Noya was grinning ear to ear, absolutely overjoyed.

"I-I wouldn't want to run into you in a dark alley, that's for sure."

"Really? Do you mean that?"

Asahi mhmed.

"Yes! Dude, oh my god, I will buy you all the ice cream you want for forever!"

Asahi smiled at this.

"I'm uh, lactose intolerant, actually, but thank you for the-"

"What? You can't eat ice cream?"

"Well, I could, I guess, but I'd get a stomach ache and-"

"That's gotta suck butt, man! Ice cream's the best-wait, if you can't eat ice cream why did'ya take me up on the offer?"

"W-well it would have been rude to refuse and um-"

"And?"

"And I was afraid of what would happen if I actually did refuse."

Noya's torso was now completely resting on the table, he had been inching closer and closer to Asahi on the other side of the booth for their entire conversation, but now he stopped and blinked at him twice.

"Did you think I'd beat you up for not wanting to eat something you're allergic to?"

"I've jus-I-I'm sorry I-"

"Asahi, how many times have you been beaten up?"

He cringed at the formality, looking downward again at his puddle of death, Noya boring holes into his head with his stare.

"A-a few times..."

"It's been more than a few times, don't fucking lie."

"M-many t-t-times..."

"Asahi."

"T-that's not a lie! It's happened..."

"A lot?"

He nodded.

"Jeez," Noya breathed.

"I don't get it," he continued, "why do they keep coming after you? You don't do anything bad and after one gang gets to you, you're not fresh meat anymore."

"W-what?"

"It's, like, how gangsters think. I'm one too ya know, I know how it all works! You see, usually if a bunch of gangs have the same target, they'll all go after it and try to take it down first; whoever gets to it first 'owns' it or whatever and then everyone accepts that and moves on. Everyone wants fresh meat and if someone gets the meat first, shreds it up and pummels it, then puts it back on the shelf, no one's gonna want it. So if a bunch of people wanna take you down, and a bunch already have, so why haven't they stopped?"

"...I've never been...'taken down' I guess."

"What?"

Asahi shifted in his seat, this was definitely an uncomfortable topic for him.

"U-usually I'm cornered by a group of people, t-they throw a few punches at most, then one of them gets scared of all the fighting and runs away, and everyone else f-f-fowllows."

"I get it now! No one's been able to, uh, like, 'break'," Asahi flinched at the word, "you, so they keep comin' back, but everyone keeps chickening out and you're still on the market for another beating, and it just goes in circles!"

Asahi was starting to shake again, Noya happy with the conclusion he'd drawn. Asahi gulped.

"I-It's really my faul-" "I have a plan."

Asahi stopped talking and let Noya take over.

"You need someone to 'take you down' so everyone else stops comin' for you, right?"

Asahi nodded.

"Well, I just so happen to know of a gang that needs to get their hands on some action, fast."

Asahi was silent.

"What if I beat you up?"

Asahi looked horrified.

"Not like I'd actually hurt you! Just, maybe a little fake black eye and some bruises here and there."

"And this would help, how?"

"I'd just _say_ that I was the one to give you a good ol' pounding, maybe we'd have a 'fight' out in public, shit like that. You wouldn't be fresh meat anymore and I'd get the credit! It's a win-win!"

"I don't know..."

"Look, you want to stop being harassed, and I need some street cred ASAP, it works out both ways."

Noya spit in his hand and held it out with a grin.

"What do you say?"

Reluctantly, Asahi shook his hand.

"It's a deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this entire fic is based around the asahi crying scene. i literally just wanted to write this ONE SCENE AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS GOOOSHHH


	5. Chapter 5

Asahi had no idea what he had gotten himself into. He only agreed because the idea of faking being beat up every now and again seemed a lot better than actually getting culled to smithereens.

He also genuinely wanted to help Noya out.

Nishinoya Yuu seemed like a nice person to him; albeit he was loud and fairly annoying and scary and had a mouth that could run a mile a minute. All in all though, he was still nice, and even offered to help Asahi be rid of his awful situation.

Of course Noya was getting something out of it too, Asahi had to remind himself of that. What person would help someone solve one of the biggest problems in their life for free? No one, that's who. It was only normal for Noya to want something out of it.

But there was still a small part of Asahi that tore through his rational side and hoped that one day somebody would want to do something for him without wanting anything in return. He wondered if anyone would ever want to do something for him just because they liked him, no ulterior motive.

He figured that was just wishful thinking.

He had other things to think about anyhow.

Things like how he had to make breakfast and lunch for his dad at four in the morning, leave a note for his mom to let her know he was leaving school earlier than usually (and earlier than she woke up, which was unbelievable since his mother was an notoriously early riser), and instead of actually going to school, he would go to a shack behind the school that used to be the sports equipment storing center before it caught fire five years ago, as Noya requested.

So here he was, yawning while pacing down the street, the rays of the rising sun having not touched the land yet.

It was peaceful, Asahi thought. Nobody was around so he didn't have to worry about anybody watching him or talking about him or whispering about him behind his back.

He knew it was silly, that people had their own lives and their own concerns that most likely didn't involve him, and that he shouldn't be so self-centered in thinking people would think about him at all, but he couldn't help it. Asahi felt like there were eyes and ears following him wherever he went, he couldn't stop from feeling like he was being watched whenever he went out in public.

He wished he wasn't so self-absorbed.

Asahi was so lost in thought he almost didn't notice the old woman waving to him. Luckily, he caught sight of her action in his peripheral vision and quickly gave a muffled apology and a wave back to the smiling cabbage lady.

As he continued on his way, Asahi wondered why Noya had basically made him promise to come to the burned down shack this early in the morning.

Actually, he didn't _basically_ make him promise, he _literally_ made him promise. Pinky promise at that.

Asahi smiled to himself.

He couldn't believe Nishinoya ran an actual gang, with members and everything. Asahi didn't really keep up with this stuff, but through the many times he had been knocked around by various gangs, he managed to pick up on a few names here and there. Nekoma's _Crawling Cats_ , with leader Kuroo Testuro and second in command Kozume Kenma, and Fukurodani's _Hooting Owls_ , run by Bokutou Kotaru, were the first that came to his mind.

He didn't even know Karasuno had an official gang, that was one of the reasons he stayed in the school after his first year; no gangs to pester him.

" _Crow 'n Go's_..." he mused.

That was certainly a...creative name. He laughed at the idea of Noya in a giant crow costume.

That thought didn't last, however, as the sun's light finally breached the horizon, and Karasuno came popping up in front of him.

It took Asahi a good twenty-three minutes to locate the old storage shack, having only known where the newer one was.

What he found was a tiny shed in comparison the the new, state of the art storage unit the school had put up when the other storage center lit up in flames.

It was small, had a large burnt spot in middle of the roof, had pieces and parts flying loose, and looked extremely dangerous.

It also had a small, extremely dangerous looking boy standing in front of it.

Well, Noya didn't really look dangerous, per se. He looked...wild. He pulled off a different brand of wild that Asahi had tried to work himself. Where Asahi looked like he could knock you out then sell you the pain killers to take the ache away in a back alley, Noya looked feisty and fairly intimidating, like a yappy dog you wouldn't want to be let loose.

"There's the man of the hour, what took you so long!" Noya chirped, clapping his hand on Asahi's back.

"It takes a while to get from my house to school, sorry, I can-"

"Calm down, it was a joke, dude. Take all the time you need. Okay, not all the time, but like, enough time? I guess? Whatever, get in the shed, we got business to take care of."

Nishinoya gestured into the burnt shed and went in first, Asahi trailing behind, and waved his hands around excitedly once they were in said shed.

"Welcome to the HQ of the _Crow 'n Go's!_ I, gang leader Nishinoya Yuu, now pronounce you, Azumane Asahi, an honorary member!" he dropped his hands with a casual shrug.

"'Cause, ya know, only members are allowed in and we kinda need you in here if we wanna get stuff done."

Asahi nodded with a smile that was growing increasingly wide, at the fact the A: He was technically officially part of an organization-type-thing, and B: Asahi was almost definitely sure this gang was just Noya's excuse to play out his childhood fantasy, just in a much bigger league.

"...Actually, why am I here?"

"Aha! I've got it all planned out, step one is a go!"

Noya turned on his heel and started walking to the other side of the shed, before stopping and turning back around.

"I'm gonna need you to follow me."

Asahi nodded, somehow not nervous in this situation. For some reason, he trusted Noya, which was probably a bad idea. After thinking about it, he came to the conclusion that Noya was probably one of those people you couldn't trust to do the dishes or run a simple errand properly, but who you could trust to do things like this, things like your own personal issues and baggage.

Probably.

Asahi told himself not to be so naive, but then again it wasn't like he was going to start spilling his guts to him anytime soon, probably never, actually.

At the other side of the shed, which was surprisingly large inside, was a long, cracked mirror, and a box with various brushes and powders and paints. Noya took a couple things at random, and pointed a free finger to a crate in front of the mirror.

"Sit. Time to make you up!"

Asahi fell back a few steps. Noya dropped the smile and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not gonna make you look like a fairy princess, if that's what you think. I'm gonna give you a fake black eye, you weenie."

"O-oh."

Asahi slowly crept over to the crate and sat on it, pulling his long legs tightly up under his chin.

Noya didn't have to crouch down, Asahi was just about at his height on the small create, so he could easily apply the make-up and face paint easily.

"Close your eyes, you ween. Also, which eye do you see the best out of?"

"Uh...the right one?"

"'Kay, left one it is!"

Noya went to work, putting a base of concealer on his eye that was just a little too pale for Asahi's skin, but whatever. He then used a mix of various eye liners and eye shadows and even some proper stage make-up.

"Where did you learn to do this?" Asahi asked, one eye open.

"Tanaka's sister. He and I have been pals since our diaper days and when we were, like, seven, we walked in on Saeko's sleepover with all the girls doing each other's make-up and shit and they did ours and stuff and I picked up on it, I guess."

"...You've remembered how to make bruises out of make-up since you were seven?"

"Okay, yeah, you got me. I did some...uh, theater, as a kid. Took a few acting classes and stage make-up was one of the basics they taught us."

"You were a theater kid?"

"I was eleven and my parents thought my boundless energy could be put to use on stage, okay? Don't make fun of me! Hey, quit laughing! Do you want this to look like an actual black eye or do you want your eye socket to look like a grape!"

"I-I'm sorry," Asahi was still laughing,"I just-just think that's-"

"Stupid? Babyish?"

"Neat."

"Neat?"

Noya dropped his brush and stopped smearing purple goop into Asahi's eye.

"Yes, neat because, well, it's neat finding out the talents people have."

Noya scoffed.

"It's so not a talent."

Asahi took one glimpse in the mirror of his left eye and found the big, purple 'bruise' was photo realistic.

"It is so a talent, Noya."

"Yeah, well, whatever." Noya grumbled, looking away to put the make-up back in order. And also to hide the embarrassingly proud smile he wore.

Asahi inspected his eye in the mirror, poking around it as to not mess it up, and noticed Noya added a few more extra bruises for emphasis.

There was even a little 'blood' and a few 'cuts' on his face.

He looked pretty gruesome, actually, yet not too bad.

The scuffles he got in usually gave him wounds somewhere on his torso or arms, in the face he had only gotten a black eye once and bloody nose three times. In his first year, things weren't that bad, so no one noticed, or at least he didn't think they did.

"N-noya, what if people-"

"Notice? That's the point. If they notice or point it out, tell them it is was Nishinoya Yuu who gave it to you!"

"But you could get in trouble."

"Hey, I'm cool with that, the more trouble and rumors over my head the better."

"But-"

"No buts! This is all part of the plan. You just go about your daily business, I'll spread the word of what happened. All you gotta do is tell people that I slashed you up if they ask!"

"That's lying."

"Nu uh, who was the one to paint that shit on your face?"

"....You."

"Yep! Exactly! So I _am_ the one to give you all those bruises and cuts and stuff, total truth!"

"I guess so..."

Noya punched him in the shoulder.

"Come on, it's all part of the plan! It'll work, I'll be famous, and you'll be at peace. It's foolproof!"

It most certainly wasn't foolproof.


	6. Chapter 6

Asahi was fidgety to say the least.

His day had been full of even more stares and whispers and even his teachers started looking at him funny in class.

He was sure that he'd stress sweat the make-up off before the end of the day.

Asahi was in he middle of a math test, the teacher prowling around the room and throwing glances at everyone who seemed to slack off (and for some reason seemed to focus her gaze towards the back of the room), when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up to see the teacher looking down at him with pity in her eyes and a sorrowful look on her face, before going back to monitoring this class.

Asahi blinked at the space she had previously taken up, wonder what brought that on. Then it hit him like a brick to the face that _actually would_ injure him.

The black eye.

Some adults, who hadn't heard of his apparent mobster reputation, would think he got beaten up some other way. Either by another student or his parents.

Oh god, his parents.

If they found out about this-no, wait, they wouldn't care, and the school system wouldn't come cracking down on his family after three minutes spent with his father's fond smile.

But the students. Both him and Noya could be given detentions or suspensions or worse.

They could be expelled.

Why didn't he think of this earlier? Why didn't he go over all the consequences more thoroughly? Why didn't he seriously consider the implications of all this?

God, he was an idiot.

Asahi was also sure he was sweating through his black eye now.

He barely made it through his math test, and was completely on edge for the rest of the day, all too aware of the whispers and giggles and stares that were definitely following him.

In his next class, which was luckily a study period, two pieces of paper magically appeared on the corner of his desk. One was frayed and torn and had rough creases along the edge. The other was of floral stationary.

Asahi wasn't sure which one he was more afraid of.

He opened the folded piece of floral stationary first. It was a letter, written in curly letters, asking, "Azumane-san, what exactly happened to you?"

He noted how the letters where also shaky, meaning the person who wrote it was probably absolutely terrified as they wrote it.

Asahi didn't know what to do. He really didn't expect anyone to ask him about it, so he didn't think about how he would respond if someone actually did ask. He really didn't know what to do and he was red in the face and couldn't breathe at the moment.

He decided to open the other one and let out the shallow breath that he was holding, extremely relived to see, in scratchy handwriting, "Hey! Asahi, meet me behind school at the end of the day, 'kay? -N."

After ten minutes of staring at both letters, he managed to write a small reply to the floral one, simply stating, "I was cornered by a, uh, a person named Nishinoya Yuu."

It look him a while of erasing and rewriting his response over and over again to get to a point where he was satisfied with his response. Asahi wanted to tell the truth, and follow Noya's instructions, but didn't want to get either of them in too much trouble. Eventually he settled for the reply above, figuring it would suffice.

He also started to stress over the fact he didn't know how to give his note back to its original sender, and opted to just leave it on his desk once class ended for whoever to pick it up. He didn't like that idea, but he had no other way to get it to them.

Then Asahi's mind was flooded with thoughts like: what if they don't even get his note at all? What if someone else finds it and tried to ask Noya or picks on him or something of the sort? What if a teacher found it?

He was starting to shake in his seat, and Asahi blessed the high heavens when the bell rang, signifying lunch this time, giving him an excuse to stretch his legs and walk off the uneasy vibrating of his bones.

His lunch break seemed all too short, and Asahi found himself almost immediately returning to his seat the minute he got up.

In his next class someone had the audacity to point directly at him and stage whisper some horrendous comment on his eye.

In gym he was secluded, as always, and sat in the corner of the gym, hyper aware of his surroundings and felt trapped in his little corner, even though the surrounding people were far away from him.

Asahi grew more and more uncomfortable in the hallway, feeling the few feet of distance the other students put between themselves and him turn into hundreds and hundreds of miles.

He hoped science would take his concentration and force him to focus, but all the jumbled words and formulas made his vision blurry and his head spin.

All he knew after the next three classes past was that he had a terrible headache, his hands were shaking, and that he had a surprisingly light amount of homework to take home.

He almost started to feel better, after waiting for the rush of people to leave so he could try to even out his breath in peace, which he did, made his way out of the school building on jelly legs. His headache was starting to subside and Asahi had just made it off of school grounds, ease making its way through his body from the ground up, and he smiled.

Until he reached into his pocket, only to find a crumpled note.

Panic flowed through his veins.

He forgot to meet Noya.

Asahi ran. He ran all around the perimeter of the school grounds before remembering exactly where Nishinoya had told him to go, and then bolted there, flushed and paranoid and scared.

"What if he's already gone?" Asahi asked himself as he slowed his pace, his entire being shaking too hard for him to run anymore.

"What if he's done with me now? What if he got tired of waiting and waiting and waiting and doesn't want anything to do with me or this plan or anything? What if he's not there?"

Yet lo and behold, Nishinoya Yuu was there, arms crossed and one foot tapping on the ground furiously, a somewhat stern expression on his face.

Cautiously, Asahi walked over to him, trying to hide his breathlessness with a small, silent wave. The minute Noya caught sight of Asahi's actions, his face split into a grin and he practically jumped with joy.

"Asahi!" he yelled, fidgeting in place, his old angry expression gone, replaced by one that resembled an excited puppy.

Asahi almost let himself breathe, but then a barrage of questions were being thrown at him as well as a small, excited child that was currently running this way and that all around him.

"So, how'd your day go? Anyone ask about me? Did anyone make a big deal out of it? Actually, you know what, scratch that one, it's a big deal already!"

If Asahi's panic came in the form of a dial, it would be turned up to eleven now.

"I-it is?"

"Hell yeah! Come one, didn't you hear? It's the talk of the whole school!"

"Oh, well, I guess I did..."

"You guess? You should know! Everyone's talking about you!" For some reason that last part came out a bit too angrily. Asahi flinched.

"They are? I mean, more than usual?"

"Fuck yes! And for the record, hotshot, no one really ever talks about you anyway. I only found out about you and your rep 'cause-" I heard someone gossiping about you. Noya momentarily panicked and quickly shrugged off his last statement.

Noya noticed the hurt that briefly crossed Asahi's face at his tone.

"What? Do you want people talking bad about you?"

"N-no! I just-I-I'm sorry."

Noya sighed.

"No, I'm sorry. I got a little too, um, I don't know, freaked? Yeah, I guess I just want this plan to move along a lot faster than it is."

"I-I'm sorry, Noya, I'll-"

"Nope! You've done nothing wrong so no sorries are allowed! Okay?"

"I-"

"'kay?"

"Okay."

"Not good enough, Asahi. You still look like you care way too much about somethin' you didn't even do. But, whatever, we'll work on that. Now, you should care about-"

Noya scratched the back of his neck.  
"You should care about the fact that we have a teeny problem."

Asahi was stricken with another wave of panic. Crank it up to twelve.

"W-what?" he choked out, his voice cracking.

"Okay, well two problems."

"W-w-what?" he was breathless again.

"Breathe, Asahi, breathe. We can fix this! Or well, I can, anyway. Problem one: the teachers, their bound to hear about this and then-

"T-then we get expelled."

Noya raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? Dude, no. Suspended at least. Expelled if I, like, killed you or something."

Asahi gulped.

"Not that I'd do that!"

"O-okay, good to know."

"Yeah, anyway, I can try and keep the teachers on the down low, I've got a couple of 'em that owe me a few favors so I can ask them to try and keep the rest of the faculty's noses out of it, for a while at least. The gossip's bound to reach them eventually, but when it does, we'll just have to lay low so they can't catch us in the act."

Asahi was confused. Noya sighed, running a hand carefully through his hair.

"Or to stop them from finding out at all, we gotta get the job done fast. Like, really fast. You fake beaten to a pulp, me getting the glory, and my gang getting the best kind of rep out there. That's easy, 'cept not."

"Except not?"

"And that leads me to problem number two! The 'expect not' is that all the peeps are talking, 'cept-"

"Except?"

"Except! Their not talking about me. I'm half this project, ya know, and I haven't gotten a smidgen of credit! Fuckin' nuts, man."

"I-"

"I mean, it's only been a day, yeah, but still if everyone has time to talk about you then they should at least mention me!" Noya huffed, obviously still pissed, but he grinned cheekily back up at Asahi.

"Whatev's. I've got a plan for this one, too." Noya took a step closer to Asahi, a fierce look in his eyes that made Asahi want to sprint to the nearest mountain. Alas, he found Noya's fist clenched in his shirt, holding him in place.

"We gotta stage a fight."


	7. Chapter 7

"A fight..." Asahi mumbled, holding his head in his hands while walking down the street. Noya had talked his ear off for the rest of the afternoon, going over how he had watched enough Dragon Ball Z in it's hay day to totally pick up on some sick moves to show off, and how they'd make the whole scene big and flashy and _on school grounds._

Asahi internally screamed at himself on his walk. Why on school grounds? Why, why, why? Why did he have to be cursed with his large frame and tall height and long hair and stubble that no matter how many times he'd try to shave off, would always stubbornly grow back? Why did he have to be big and scary and stupid and-

"Are you okay?"

Asahi froze. He turned slowly, not at all ready to face his doom at the sound of the voice behind him.

"Dude, are you okay? Asahi?" There was Noya, one hand on his hip, the other holding a cabbage, and an eyebrow raised. He was standing in front of a small cart with an even smaller old woman behind it.

"Why are you-"

"Grocery shopping, duh. I have these dumb half-Russian neighbors and they needed cabbage for some weird dinner thing and my mom oh so graciously made me go out and get it for them. Why are you here?"

"I live around the corner."

"Oh! That's cool! So you can, like, just walk home and get food and stuff all in one trip? Sweet!"

"Where do you-"

"I live in another part of town, kinda outside it, actually. One train ride away! So I have to get aaaaaall this shit-stuff-," he turned his head quickly to the old woman and saw her face twist in disgust at his vulgar language, "-sorry ma'am-done before headin' out."

"Oh. That's uh, inconveient."

"Yeah. I guess."

Nishinoya dropped a couple of coins into the old woman's hand and hefted a very large bag of cabbage over his shoulder. The woman nodded with a big smile, gesturing to Asahi.

Asahi figured Noya would politely, or not so politely, thank the lady and then run home, forgetting him and everything about him from the afternoon in favor of presenting the vegetables to their rightful owners.

Noya never did anything anyone would expect, and instead he grinned back at the cabbage seller and jogged over to Asahi, soon falling in line with his steps.

"Ashai, what was with that look earlier?"

He gulped.

"What look?"

"Don't play dumb with me! You're eyes got all wide and looked hollow and you were so pale you looked liked you'd been six feet under for a while. What was up with that?"

"Nothing! Nothing, I just-"

"Just what? Did someone else follow you on your way home again? Did they threaten you? I swear to god, when I get my hands on those fuckers I-"

"No! It wasn't that, I just, I get nervous. A lot."

Noya dropped his balled up fists and replaced his scrunched up, angry face with a snicker.

"Yeah, I kinda got that."

Some feeling that made Asahi's gut twist and his heart race in a terrible feeling of just plain _pain_ washed through him, making him cast his eyes downward. He knew it was just a small comment, and there was probably no spite behind it at all. Probably. Hopefully. The laughing didn't help at all, either. He knew he would hear that echoing laugh ringing in his ears whenever he's anxieties started eating him whole again. Because that always happened, he's get sad and insecure and every bad thing ever said about him would race through his mind and make him feel like he was being torn apart from the inside out.

"Yeah," Asahi

Oh god. _Nishinoya fucking Yuu, what did you fucking do?_

"Sorry, that was a low blow, right? What I meant was I can um, kinda tell you're a preeeeetty nervous person in general."

"It's okay," Asahi gave a small, dry laugh, and looked over at Nishinoya with the best smile he could muster. Noya could definitely tell it was fake. He hated that. Fake anythings, but especially fake happiness. He thought happiness should be genuine when it was, and sadness should be genuine when it was, and that feelings shouldn't be faked. But he didn't say that, he just cautiously accepted the laugh and the smile and tucked one arm under his armpit, crossing the arm over his chest with a huff.

"Okay, so what's got you all bunched up today?"

"Oh-nothing-"

"Bullshit."

"No, really, it's-"

"Fucking bullshit."

"Noya, no, it's-"

"Mega fucking bullshit."

"The fight."

Noya froze in his tracks. Asahi did the same. A few people milled around them, seeming oblivious to the tense air.

Noya's eyes got widened and Asahi couldn't find his breath. Nishinoya's voice was a whisper, muted by the loudness of the sudden crowd around them.

"The fight?"

Asahi nodded, looking like a deer in the headlights.

"We don't have to do it. I just thought it might speed things up a little. Spark even more rumors. Asahi, they know you got 'hurt', but they didn't know I did it-"

"Someone knows."

"What?"

"A-a person, they wrote me a note asking what happened. I told her it was you."

"Oh. Oh! That's good. But, Asahi-"

"One person isn't enough, right?"

"...Yeah."

"We need a lot of people to really start talking."

"Right."

"And not just-not just about me. About you."

"Yeah."

"Okay. Then-then I'll go through with it."

"Asahi if it makes you too uncomfortable-"

"Isn't getting out of your comfort zone a good thing?"

"I," Noya was speechless. Asahi seemed somehow confident, yet...sad? So, so unbelievably sad and empty and scared, but somehow had the tiniest pinch of confidence.

Fake confidence. Noya knew it was fake and he _hated_ it.

_Why are you faking all this, Asahi?_

"Okay, good we're on the same page!"

Asahi let out a strained breath, seeming concerned. He didn't want to make Noya upset or give him the short end of the stick on their plan, but more than anything, he was wondering why Noya wasn't giving him his signature grin, the grin that showed that he really was happy. Noya sounded happy, but his face didn't show it. It scared Asahi.

"Noya-"

Just then, the heavens opened up, the sun shone, and Nishinoya Yuu grinned from ear to ear.

"Tell me if it get's to be too much for you, 'kay? Until then, we're in this through and through!" He held out his pinky towards Asahi.

Asahi sighed, gave the tiniest of real smiles, and laced his large pinky around Noya's small one.

"Promise?" Asahi asked.

"Promise!" Noya answered.

The two boys grinned at each other, and somewhere along in their conversation their feet started moving, nearing Asahi's apartment complex.

"Noya, don't you have to get to the train?"

"Oh, yeah, forgot about that. Whoops!"

Without another word, Noya disappeared in the growing crowd of people, running in zig zag formation. Asahi caught a glimpse of him running in his idiotic way, before he lost sight of Noya completely. He sighed through his nose, shaking his head, yet smiling all the same.

"How can he be the leader of an actual gang?" he asked himself jokingly.

His smile stayed for a few, lingering moments, before he really realized Noya wasn't by side anymore, and that he was alone. That he'd have to go back to his house full of people with fake smiles that he learnt to copy so easily.

Suddenly Asahi's feet seemed heavy, like they were full of lead. He could barely drag himself up the stairs that were carved into the side of the apartment complex building.

The sun was just setting over the horizon, he'd have to help his mom make dinner and nurse his father's headache that he almost certainly had and do homework and make painfully pleasant conversation and-

And he probably made Noya extremely late in getting home.

Asahi's fingers gripped the doorknob for dear life.

When did he make it to his apartment door, wasn't he just on the steps? He didn't know.

"Asahi!"

He jumped, clutched his chest, and turned towards the noise behind him, again.

There was the impossible. There stood Noya. He was panting, the bag of cabbages over his shoulder wrinkled beyond belief, but he was smiling so wide it made Asahi's heart ache.

Ache in a good way.

_Thanks for the day, I mean, like, you know everything today. I really don't care about the train or the cabbages or shit, I'm just happy I got to talk to you because I don't really get to talk to people like I do with you and it was-you know, nice._

That's what Noya was going to say, he had bolted back down the street to follow Asahi and hopefully get back to him and tell him something, anything, to reassure him and make him feel better, as well as get some things off Noya's own chest. He just wanted to tell Asahi something amazing, something he'd always remember-

"Do you want a cabbage?"

-is what he said instead. Noya wanted to tear his eyes out with a rusty spoon.

Asahi stared.

"...Okay?"

Noya dejectedly fished out a leafy green vegetable in pristine condition before handing it to him. They stood there in silence, both staring at the cabbage, looking for something to say.

"Aren't you going to be late?" Asahi chocked out.

"What? Oh, yeah, I guess. It doesn't really bother me!"

"But what about your parents? Won't they-"

"Yeah, my mom's totally gonna chew me out, ha."

Concern grew in Asahi's face.

"But! But, it's okay. It-it was worth it."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely!"

Noya was smiling again, and soon so was Asahi.

Just then, the door swung open, and a tall woman with brown hair pulled up into a tired bun poked her head out the door. She made no comment on Asahi's black eye that actually /was/ dripping with sweat now, or on the pink cheeks of the boy standing across from him.

All she said was, "Dear, did you bring cabbage home for super?"

Asahi gave a blank nod and his mother ushered him in, Noya starting to trail behind, but he stopped himself.

"Oh, uh, sorry ma'am, I should probably get going!"

"That's fine, hun. Come again anytime you'd like."

"Alright! I'll, uh, see you later Asahi!"

Nishinoya ran, jumped down the steps two by two, and raced through the streets. He was happy he made a good first impression of sorts on Asahi's mom, but something bothered him.

She didn't mention the black eye.

Wouldn't most parent's first concern be their child's safety? He knew plenty of times his own mom fussed around the scratches and bruises his siblings and him had gotten; if he ever so much as walked in the door with a paper cut, his mother would be on his case for hours.

Asahi's mom didn't do that. She didn't even point it out.

She ignored it completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you mean im showing my own anxieties through asahi? im not doing that hahaha *sweats*


	8. Chapter 8

"Sorry guys, the meeting's cancelled." Noya said with a shrug.

For once, all the members of the _Crow 'n Go's_ managed to show up after school at their base of headquarters for a scheduled meeting.

Everyone was even on time.

"Whaaaaaaaat? You can't just cancel the meeting!" Hinata protested. Suga patted his head, making the smaller puff out his cheeks in irritation.

"It is pretty sudden. Did something come up?" Suga asked with a smile.

"I've gotta meet someone about a thing." Noya answered, distractedly looking through a box of assorted items. The shed was used to store all of the old junk the school didn't need or care about anymore, yet didn't want to throw out. Meaning the HQ had a stack of water stained boxes piled up in the corner, full of everything from old makeup and props from past musical productions to metal baseball bats signed by alumni that had made it to the minor leagues at one point.

Tanaka scoffed, "What thing?"

Noya jumped out from half hanging out of large cardboard box and answered back, "A thing thing!"

Hinata piped up this time, "What sort of thing thing? A cool thing thing?"

"The coolest of thing things!" Nishinoya brandished a smile, pointing one finger up to the sky like he was a famous singer signaling to a fan up high in the heavens.

"A thing thing that's gonna build our reputation!"

"Don't we actually need a reputation first?" Suga asked, half-jokingly. Noya laughed at that remark.

"I think we've started getting _quite_ the reputation recently! Haven't you heard the rumors?"

Hinata nodded his head with enthusiasm, like an overexcited little puppy, though Tanaka was the one to answer.

"Yeah, but they ain't about us. They're about  _you._ " _  
_

"Really?" Suga asked. He was the one who gossiped the most out of all of them, but was also the only one to keep a low profile about it. Still, it was weird Sugawara of all people didn't have a clue. Tanaka only knew because he was Noya's bestie, and besties have to watch out for besties, and that includes knowing what people were saying about said bestie.

"Fuckin' yeah, apparently people've seen Noya and that one thug guy hanging around. Didn't the guy have a black eye, too? Peeps are startin' to think Noya has somethin' to do with it."

"Wow! Noya, Noya! Did you really do that?"

"Noya, what happened?"

Both Suga and Hinata were confused as to who 'the thug guy' was, but were curious all the same. Nishinoya just held a single finger to his lips.

"Ah, ah, ah! All will be revealed in due time! Promise!"

Hinata whined, "But Nooooooyaaaaaaa-"

"Scram kiddos!"

"Noya, I'm older than you."

"Don't you have a certain person who's name may or may not start with a D and end in an I and has an 'aich' in the middle to go make goo goo eyes at?"

"...I might."

"And Hinata, doesn't Kageyama walk you home every-"

"Ah, craaaaap! I forgot to tell Kageyama about the meeting! God, he's probably been waiting like always, _he's going to be so pissed at me!"_

Cue Hinata's exit, followed by Suga.

"What about you, bro? Gonna go show off around with some ladies?" Noya said with a wink. Tanaka huffed, scuffing the ground with his show, just the slightest bit red in the face.

"Nah, Imma visit Saeko probably."

"You're going to see her without me? You cruel, cruel human being. At least tell her I said hi!"

"Bruh, I know she's your honorary sister, but chill. Seriously though, are you gonna meet up with that thug?"

"Maybe."

"Dude, he's fuckin' trouble, I can smell it."

"Asahi couldn't hurt a goddamned fly."

" _You know his name?_ "

"Yeah, so what?"

"You actually know his fucking name! And you use it!"

"Yeah, so what!"

Tanaka leaned against the side of the shed with a /creak/.

"Look, I'm just sayin' this _Asahi_ can't be good. For us or for you,"

"Oh please, Ryuu. I swear he's a total puppy! He stress sweated off the black eye I gave him-"

"Hold up," Tanaka held up his hands to pause their conversation briefly, "you _actually_ gave him a black eye? And what the fuck do you mean by he 'sweated if off'?"

"Bro, it was a fake,"

"Bro, what?"

"It's part of the plan, ya see-"

"...You two are in cahoots?"

"Yep! It's all _part of the plan_!"

"You have a _plan_?"

"Hell yeah, trust me, it'll all work out for the best!"

And with that, Noya packed up his belongings and headed out the door, jumping out of the dark, dank shed and into the sunlight.

\---

Three-forty-eight P.M. was the time Nishinoya burst through the door of _I Like To Spoon!,_ his chest heaving from running so fast. He made it there in record time, a whooping five-and-a-half minutes instead of his usual thirteen minute walk.

Noya waltzed in with his head held high and his hands on his hips, walking past the bar and signaling the on duty worker, Yamaguchi, for his usual, and was given a nod from him and a glare from Tsukishima, who was working the ice cream dispenser further in the back.

Paying no mind to him, however, Noya carefully slid into his customary booth, folding his hands neatly on the table in front of him. He kicked his feet under the table, biting into the ice cream bar that Yamaguchi brought over to him, watching the cat themed clock on the wall parallel to him tick away.

Twelve minutes went by and it was _now_ exactly the time Noya had texted Asahi to meet him at. (He had asked for Asahi's phone previously so they wouldn't have to keep passing each other notes in class to arrange their meetings.)

Asahi didn't come ten minutes later.

He wasn't there twenty minutes after that.

Another ten minutes and two ice cream popsicles later, and still no sign of Asahi.

Thirty more, three ice cream popsicles, and no Asahi.

Forty minutes more, two popsicles, nada.

Fifteen, three, nothing.

Twenty-five, four, nope.

Sixty-eight, five, and again, no Asahi to be found.

By this time a large crowd had come into the place and Noya had to fight off people who begged to claim the seat in front of him, if only to have somewhere to sit, seeing as every other surface in the ice cream shop was occupied. Eventually, Tsukishima kicked Noya out for taking up space they needed, even after Noya insisted that the person he was waiting for was, in fact, coming.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

"You got stood up. Get over it."

"Okay one: he is _so coming,_ I can feel it! And two: I'm not being stood up. It's not a date."

"Yeah, right, whatever. Like I care."

And with that the door was slammed right in his face.

"Asshole," Noya mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Though he wasn't sure if he was talking about Tsukishima, himself, or Asahi. Tskishima for obvious reasons, himself for thinking that maybe he really did set this up like a date and scared Asahi off or something like that, and Asahi for not showing up at all.

Actually, scratch that last one. Whatever happened to Asahi that made him a no-show was probably important or something he couldn't help. Asahi was a pretty punctual person, most of the time. He slipped up, like, once, but Noya could tell he felt extremely guilty about it. It was probably an accident, no way would he miss something like this on purpose.

Right?

"Right," Noya said to himself, nodding in agreement with, well, himself.

Asahi probably had to run errands for his mother or do chores or something. Maybe he was studying for a big test? What if he found a lost cat by the side of the road and tried to return it to it's owner? Asahi would definitely do something like that.

"Saving cats and shit, yeah. Like, maybe he found an _injured l_ ost cat. That was stuck in a tree. Yeah, injured-lost-tree-cat that he'd of course try to save. Asahi would totes climb the tree and reach for that cat and then the cat would probs struggle, which wold make Asahi panic and then-oh god he could panic and fall out of the tree. He could _die!"_

Suddenly Noya wasn't so calm anymore.

He whipped out his phone and called Asahi as fast as he could, pacing around the park with the dial tone.

"Pick up, pick up, pick fuckin'-Asahi! Where are you?"

"...Oh, um, sorry...nowhere..."

Asahi's voice was rough and quiet, and Nishinoya was certain he heard a pained groaning noise in there somewhere.

"Asahi," he said between ground teeth, "where the fuck are you? Did you fall out of a tree? Please tell me you didn't fall out of a tree!"

"I-I didn't-no...no trees."

"That sounds like something someone who fell outta a tree would say!"

"No!" Asahi's voice was incredibly high pitched on the other line momentarily.

"Asahi-"

"Studying. I'm-I'm studying..."

"Where at?"

"S-school...?"

"Takeda told me not a single miserable student soul was on school grounds when I left." Okay, that was a lie, but coming from the uncertainty in Asahi's voice, he was lying too.

"I'm um-um at h-home, then-"

"Where the _fuck_ are you!"

"..."

"Asahi, _please,_ I'm not mad, I swear-I'm worried as shit."

Asahi hated talking to people about his problems, but hated making people worry even more, worry made him feel even more guilty, which he could barely handle.

"...A-a-a convenience store...the one-the one near the school-"

"I'm on my way!"

"Noya don't-"

"Too late!"

And with that, Nishinoya bolted back in the direction of the school, racing as fast his legs could carry him.

So fast that when he actually made it to the convenience store, he tried skidding to a stop, but he instead slid a good few feet past the entrance.

He scrambled up and burst through the door with all his might.

His eyes scanned the room and Noya noticed three things: the clerk at the desk was asleep, there were two shady guys in hoodies wandering around, and, if he squinted, he could make out the image of Asahi crouching behind an aisle of snack foods. The hooded men gave him a glare, and one motioned for him to leave silently.

Noya took one look at Asahi, he was shaking now and met Noya's gaze with wide, pleading eyes.

It all clicked.

Asahi was being followed by gangsters.

Again.

"Piss off," he told the hoodied hooligans, making his way quickly to Asahi. The two shady men didn't take too kindly to that, and followed behind Noya with balled fists and snarls.

Noya bunched his own fist in Asahi's shirt, picking him back up effortlessly.

"Get the _fuck_ up and give me my shit." He commanded, Asahi looking down at him, utterly confused.

_Play along_ Noya mouthed, and Asahi gave a curt nod in sudden understanding.

"I-I-I d-don't-"

"Yes you fucking do! I swear to god, if you goddamned don't-"

The thugs exchanged a series of looks.

"P-please don't-! It-it's just-"

"Homework? Or h-h-h-homework, huh? Look, fucker, I ain't got time to mess the fuck around with noobs like you, so cough it up!"

"I-I-"

Noya shoved him back with a surprising amount of strength, knocking Asahi into an aisle of canned goods, before grabbing at him again and baring his teeth.

The thugs took a few steps back.

"I will _end_ you."

The thugs have now left the building, ladies and gentlemen.

"N-n-noya-"

"Shh, wait, in case they come back."

The two of them stood right up next to each other, Noya pushed against Asahi's chest and Asahi's face dangerously close to Noya's.

Nishinoya could hear the breaths Asahi was straining to hold back, and he focused his eyes on Asahi's, keeping his stern expression frozen in place.

After about ten minutes, Noya let go of him and stepped back, and Asahi let out a deep, shuddering breath, clutching his chest with his right hand.

Nishinoya wanted to give him space, let him calm down, but when Asahi started to hyperventilate, Noya started panicking.

"Hey, hey, it's okay now! Those assbutts are gone and they aren't gonna mess with you, I promise. I wouldn't let them!"

Asahi nodded, but his heart was still running a mile a minute, his eye's bulging.

Noya didn't know what to do, he just wanted Asahi to be okay, and clearly he wasn't. Frantically, he looked around the store for anything; tea, water, aspirin, a paper bag, /anything/ that could help. In his haste, he was unable to find a single thing. He scratched his head viciously, darting around, praying for something-

Then he heard the wheeze.

Noya snapped his neck in the direction of Asahi, who was currently holding a small piece of plastic to his mouth, breathing in heavily.

When Asahi seemed to calm down, he noticed Noya staring at him.

"It's an inhaler..." he said, looking wide eyed at Noya and pointing to the yellow plastic object that just saved him.

"You have asthma?"

"Yes...?"

Noya groaned, pressing his palms to his face.

"Okay, anything else I should know about for future reference besides you having asthma, being lactose intolerant, and the whole stalked by gangsters thing?"

"Uh..."

"Asahi I swear to god-you better tell me now so I'll know and if you don't-"

"I just-"

"Asahi!"

"Heart problems!" He yelped, clutching his inhaler tightly. Noya's slightly annoyed face fell, he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, yet his face was soft and wide eyed.

"I...I have heart p-problems..." Asahi gulped.

"Asahi...anything else?"

"I don't...no."

"Asahi-"

"Please, no, I swear."

Noya knew he was lying, that the 'no' was actually a 'I don't want to tell you', but he dropped it. He was always dropping Asahi's problems when he seemed too uncomfortable and he hated it, but he could save his pent up interrogation for later.

"Okay, let's just get you home all safe and sound, 'kay?"

Asahi nodded, walking shakily.

Somehow, the clerk was still sleeping at his desk, and the two teens strolled out quietly.

Asahi was still shaking when Noya noticed his nose was bleeding. He opened his mouth to point it out, to say to Asahi that they should take him home so maybe his mom could patch him up when Noya realized something.

Asahi's mom wouldn't help him. For whatever reason, he had a gut feeling that if he brought Asahi home, he would just sit alone, in the dark, and in pain.

Noya didn't want that for him.

So, Nishinoya tugged at Asahi's sleeve, pulling him in the opposite direction.

"Let's go to my house, okay? I don't really live that far away, it's like a fifteen minute train ride, tops, and my mom's a good cook and she'll definitely make us a hella good meal and-yeah, let's do that."

"...Are you sure?"

"Yep!"

Noya then took his hand and pulled him towards the train station, Asahi stumbling to keep up.

They managed to catch the next train right as they got their tickets, the train pulling to a stop right in front of their eyes. They melted into the crowd of people, still connected by linked hands.

Their luck was starting to change, so much that they even found two seats free for them to sit among the crowd, though Asahi gave his up to an older woman, Noya saying, "That's so something Asahi would do," to himself.

One train ride and a short walk later, and they were at the door of a small yet quaint house in a quiet neighborhood.

Noya led Asahi in, both of them taking off their shoes as they entered.

"Yuu? Is that you?" A woman's voice called. Nishinoya cupped his hands around his mouth and called back to her.

"Yep! I've brought someone over for dinner, too!"

This time, two childish voices were the reply.

"Whhhaaaaat? You have friends! Brother has friends!"

"Or maybe a girlfriend! Or a boyfriend! Or a friendfriend!"

"Shut up!"

Three laughs were heard and Noya bolted into the kitchen before running back and pulling a stunned Asahi along.

"This," he gestured to the tall, bashful boy next to him, "Is Azumane Asahi, he's my /friend/, got it?" He stared pointedly at what looked like two mini Noya's sitting at the kitchen island with crayons and coloring books.

"Wow, he's big!"

"And tall!"

"He seems cool!"

"Why is he hanging out with our brother?"

"Hey! You lil shits-brats!" Noya nuggied both his little sister and brother.

"Yuu said a bad word!"

"A bad word!"

"All of you, quiet!" cried their mother, smacking all three siblings on the back of the head.

"We have a guest, children," she spoke softly, "Why don't you two go wash your hands and color in your room? You can bother Azumane at dinner."

"Fiiiiiiiiiine." They said in unison, hopping away from the kitchen, a fist full of crayons in each hand. Noya sighed.

"Sorry 'bout them, Asahi. They're a little-"

Cue a second smack to the head from mother to son.

"Mom!"

"Don't you mom me! I told you not to curse in front of them."

"I know, I know!"

"Good. Now then, it's a honor to meet you, Mister Azumane." Noya's mom held out her hand to him. Asahi gently shook it, stuttering out a, "T-thank you for having me!"

"Wow, so nice and polite. Why are you hanging around with my son?"

"Mooooooooom!"

"I'm kidding! It's always nice to see that Yuu has friends, friends that aren't in that gang of his. Even though they're all very pleasant, it's nice to see him branching out and-oh! Azumane! You're bleeding! Yuu, why didn't you tell me he was hurt!"

Mumbling to herself, she stormed away, returning with another smack for Noya and a first aid kit for Asahi. She carefully dabbed at the drying blood under his nose, glaring at her son.

"What happened? Did he get mixed up in your gang activities?"

"Well, sorta..."

"Nishinoya Yuu!"

"M-ma'am," Asahi interjected, "I-it's my fault, I promise, Noya had nothing to do with it."

"Don't feel like you have to cover for him, Azumane, but thank you. You really are a nice kid. I'm sure Yuu is a terrible influence on you."

"Oh my god-Mom!" Noya groaned, "I'm not that bad!"

"Yes you are," said both Mrs. Nishinoya and Asahi at the same time. She chuckled.

"It's official, I think I want to adopt you." Asahi blushed. Noya groaned a noise resembling that of a dying whale and stormed out of the room.

"O-Oh, well I-I-"

A small child with pigtails and a gap in her teeth popped out from behind the doorway.

"Is dinner done yet?" she asked.

"Almost, almost," her mother replied. The little girl stayed in place, watching Asahi. He glanced at her time and time again, until she spoke.

"Are you the one that brother likes?"

"Yeah!" Now another head popped out from the opposite side of the doorframe, this one belonging to a little boy who looked almost identical to his sister.

"'Cause Yuu talks about this one guy a lot," the boy stated.

"He's tall and big and nice and nervous!" said the girl.

"He gets flustered a lot!"

"And is really cute when he blushes."

"Actually, he's cute all the time!"

"Yep! And you fit all the cry-cry-tear-"

"C-criteria?" Asahi suggested.

"Yeah!" the two yelled.

In their defense, Noya was having a lot late night feeling jams with his mother recently, ones in which his younger siblings would eavesdrop on. ("So, mom, there's this gu-person! Person, that's just-tall and nice, and all I kinda wanna do is hug him-them. Like, most of the time?" "Hun, that's a crush.")

It was at this moment Noya came running in, pale faced, and with an angry expression that made his sibling shriek in false terror.

"Mom! I'm taking Asahi up to my room to get away from you people, because oh my god could you be any more embarrassing?"

"Fine, go ahead. I trust Azumane, not you, though."

"Thanks-wait, not thanks! I think! Whatever, c'mon Asahi!"

"Bye brothers boyfriend-crush-thing!"

"Bye Asahi!"

Noya was groaning more and more as the minutes went by.

They took a long walk down a small hallway, and Asahi took note of the many family pictures lining the hall. Only one had a picture of a man and a woman and small baby all bundled up; the rest were of Noya's mom, Noya himself, and the twins.

Nishinoya ushered Asahi in when they reached the door at the very end of the hallway. Noya fell face first on his bed, wriggling about and making more whine-whale-noises.

He sat up to apologize for his stupid family when he spotted Asahi standing uncomfortably in the corner. Noya patted the spot next to him, and when Asahi didn't come over, Noya got up and practically dragged Asahi to sit next to him.  
Asahi still looked extremely uncomfortable and Noya flopped on his back, draping his arm over his eyes.

"I'm so, so sorry for my mom and my brother and my sister, they're all just-"

"They're sweet."

"Even the twin demon spawn from hell?"

"Yeah. I think they're cute."

"Pff, yeah right!"

"Both of them are like little versions of you."

Asahi slowly laid back next to Noya.

"How so?"

Noya was now laying on his side, his arm propping his head up, one eyebrow raised comically.

Asahi was smiling as he stared at the ceiling, his hands folded on his chest.

"Well, they are pretty loud, and rambunctious, and annoying-"

"Hey!"

"And they're the spitting image of you!"

"Nu uh!"

"Oh come on, if you had a gap in your teeth, you'd look just like your sister."

"Thank god for the braces I had in elementary school."

"You had braces?"

"Yep! Just don't ask mom about them, she has way too many pictures."

An electric smile crossed Asahi's face and Noya's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Don't you fuckin' dare, Asahi."

Asahi had started to sit up, a sort of mischievous glint to his expression that Noya wasn't used to.

"No!" Nishinoya yelled, wrapping his arms around Asahi's middle and pulling him back down with an /oof/.

"I swear to god, Asahi, I will tickle you so hard."

"...You wouldn't."

It was Noya's turn to smirk now, and his fingers danced across Asahi's stomach, the older covering his mouth in order to stifle giggles.

"N-noya, please!"

"Nope! You deserve this!"

Noya scrambled on top of Asahi's form, his knees bracing the space on either side of Asahi's torso, tickling him mercilessly.

"Noya! I surrender! Please!" he cried, hollering with laughter. Noya laughed himself.

"Okay, fine! I stopped, I stopped!" Noya was laughing harder, holding his hands up in surrender. The two locked eyes for a moment before bursting into more laughter.

Tears were forming in the corner of their eyes and as they settled down, the events of the day seemed to disappear.

Until Noya thought briefly of seeing the smiling Asahi in front of him, or more accurately beneath him, shuddering and shaking and breaking down crying.

"I'm allergic to nuts." Noya said suddenly.

Asahi blinked up at him.

"Oh. Thank you for...telling me."

"I thought that since earlier you, ya know, kind of told me of a lot of things about your health and stuff, so I thought I'd tell you mine."

"I appreciate it Noya, really."

"And I don't mean to dig anything up, but just to make sure, it's just the heart problems, the dairy thing, asthma, and the thugs, right?"

"...I-I keep an inhaler with me at all times, as well as heart medication."

"Okay." _That's not an answer._

They sat in silence, Noya's concerned expression carving holes into Asahi, while Asahi himself looked away.

"Asahi, I'm sorry-" "I'm sorry-"

Both blinked up at one another. Noya gave a small smile as Asahi propped his elbows up underneath himself.

"Why are you sorry, you ween?"

"I just...I feel guilty...and bad and-"

"Asahi, there's nothing to feel bad about!" Noya grinned, but then suddenly turned serious when he didn't get a response.

"...Or is there?"

Silence.

"Asahi?"

More silence.

"What's wrong?"

Nothing, not a word.

"Asahi, please-"

"It's nothing."

"No, it's something, isn't it?"

Again, silence.

"How 'bout we make a deal? You've told me a lot about the shit ailing you, right? So...what if I tell you something about me?"

"...Okay."

Noya took a deep breath, "Okay, so...I don't have a dad, if you couldn't tell by all the family photos. He ran away when I was little, when my mom was pregnant with the twins. That's what she said, anyway. He...he was part of the Yakuza or the mob or something. He got into some trouble and-you know, that's why I want to have a gang. Because he was a good guy, Asahi, I know he was. He was a good guy in a bad gang and I don't want that to happen to anybody else, kinda stupid to have a 'good' gang though."

"...Noya, I'm-"

"I've never told anyone that, never! It...it feels...good? Yeah. To get it off my chest."

Noya was grinning, but tears were threatening to spill. Asahi shifted a little, fixing his position so he was sitting up more or less straight, Nishinoya still on his lap.

Asahi was biting his lip painfully, his brows drawn together in concern and carefully, cautiously, he pulled Noya into a hug.

Noya reciprocated the action almost instantly, grabbing Asahi and pulling him in tight, nuzzling his head in the crook of Asahi's neck.

"It's okay," Asahi whispered, his grip on Noya getting just the slightest bit tighter. He felt his neck dampen, just a little, and Asahi became all too aware of how tiny Noya seemed in his arms. He hated it. Noya was short, but loud and brave and amazing, too, not small and delicate like he was now.

Then again, everyone was small and delicate sometimes. That was okay, he had to remind himself.

All of a sudden, Nishinoya peeled his head away from Asahi's shoulder, giving him a hard stare with red, puffy eyes.

"Asahi, promise me now that you've told me absolutely _everything._ Holding stuff in is bad, it's really terrible, I know it is. So, do you promise?"

Asahi gulped, and he bit his lower lip harder this time.

"I can't."

"Why not?" Noya's face scrunched up with seriousness.

"...Because I haven't. Because I'm...I'm-"

"Afraid? Yeah, me too."

Asahi looked up at him, looked right into his sad, hard, determined tear stained eyes.

"Anxiety. I-I have a-an anxiety d-disorder. A-a-and I get p-p-panic attacks, a-a lot. E-e-especially when-"

He was crying now.

"When I'm caught in the middle of a f-f-fight."

It was Noya's turn to pull him into a hug.

"Asahi-"

"I-I used to go to t-therapy a-and my p-parents-god-they were-they _are_ terrible and terrifying a-and-Noya, they ignored it. Everything. They made me stop getting help because they didn't-they didn't _see_ -they knew but they-they're _blind_ and-"

Asahi was crying now.

"It's okay. I promise. We're in this together, right?"

"R-right."

"Good."

Now both of them were crying. Neither of them got dinner that night, they didn't hear Mrs. Nishinoya call for them and when she went to go get the two of them, she found both boys with curled around each other, fast asleep after their tiring day.

She let them sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is HELLA long and im HELLA upset at it, i thought it could be better but ehh im a lazy egg
> 
> thank all of you for reading!! all yall make me super duper happy ovo


	9. Chapter 9

"Bro, are you sure about this?" Tanaka asked, his breath coming out in small white puffs in the cool night air.

"Abso-fucking-loutely!" came Nishinoya's reply, he was grinning and bouncing on the tips of his toes in impatience.

Tanaka raised a skeptical eyebrow. Between the two of them and their many wild adventures, he was almost always down for whatever plan or scheme Noya had come up with. Given the circumstances, this idea was a little different, a little less devious, and incredibly stupid.

It was two A.M. on a Thursday morning (or was it still Wednesday night?) and the two idiots of broship where behind a conjoined Taco Bell KFC. Noya had texted Tanaka an hour earlier, telling him to get there ASAP as he had just hatched another plan that he needed help with.

Tanaka was flabbergasted. Because, well, it was this early (late?) on a _school night,_ he didn't even know there was a conjoined Taco Bell Kentucky Fried Chicken in this town, and Nnoya's request was just so, so-

"Stupid. This is so goddamned stupid, Noya. Holy shit," Tanaka groaned, throwing his head back.

"C'mon, Ryuu! Please, for me?" Noya batted his eyelashes.

Tanaka crossed his arms and snarled, "You want me to beat the crap outta you! Please, tell me this isn't stupid _how_?"

"Okay, okay, look I just-I need you to do this!"

"Why the fuck-oh my god, it has something to do with that thug, what's his name, god, it has a lotta A's in it doesn't it?"

"Asahi. Bro, Azumane Asahi and-"

"Nope. No fucking way am I physically hurting you for _him._ "

"Ryuu! This is for me! From you to me _for me-_ "

"But you want me to hit you because of him, right?"

"...Maybe. Just a little!"

"Oh my god, Noya why the fuck do you even want to do this this?"

"I don't want him to get hurt!" Noya screeched through his teeth. Both boys hands started to clench at their sides.

"Oh, so you want to get hurt instead!"

"Yes! Exactly! Jesus, you don't get it, he's-"

"I do fucking get it! I get that this stupid little crush of yours is getting waaaaay outta hand!"

"I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING CRUSH!"

"YES YOU DO, JESUS CHRIST ON A CRACKER, IT'S _SO_ OBVIOUS!"

Somehow, somewhere in their fighting, they had gotten closer together, their faces pressed right up into each others, angry expressions twisted up tighter than the seal of a Ziplock bag. They had caused such a ruckus the Taco Bell KFC workers were now glancing through the windows of their greasy working establishment in worry.

And then they laughed. The two stupid, idiotic, best friends who were literally /just/ fighting were now laughing hysterically, chocking out things like, "Oh my god, your face!" and " No, oh my god /your face/!"

Tanaka was doubling over and almost crying. Noya was balled up on the ground.

The poor fast food workers were even more concerned now.

After about twelve minutes of this, their breaths finally slowed and Noya made his way back up onto his own two feet, clapping a hand on Tanaka's arm.

"We good?" he asked.

"Yeah, we good," Tanaka snorted.

"Good!"

"But-" Noya visibly deflated at this, "I still wanna know why you want me to beat you to a pulp, ya know?"

"Okay, yeah, fair enough! You see-"

"Wait hold up, if it's about Asahi you're probs gonna get super mushy, and this'll take a while," Tanaka said as he took a seat on a turned over trashcan. Nishinoya was just a little bit pink in the face and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ready, Ryuu?"

"Yep, oh please, go on with your tale,"

"Okay, so, I told you how I wanted to fake a fight in front of everyone to really get things going, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, yeah, scratch that,"

_"What?"  
_

"Look! It's just-Asahi has it pretty hard, he gets scared and panicky so easily-and he hates fights-and he has all these health problems and shit already and I don't wanna make anything any harder than it needs to be for him!"

"Slow down-"

"I don't want him to get hurt, okay! I'd rather get hurt than _get him hurt_. God, he's so nice Ryuu-like, he's _always_ concerned for me and my well being and insists he's fine when he's not and hates opening up and-and-and!"

"Dude-"

"You know when I said he couldn't hurt a fly? I meant it! He was a heart of gold-no, maybe glass? Is gold glass a thing? Whatever! He's a saint, he's just so so amazing and he's so _hurt_...I don't want hurt him more,"

Noya looked like he was gonna start sniveling any moment now, and Tanaka jumped up from his place on the trashcan quickly.

"...Where did you want me to punch you, again?"

Nishinoya instantly perked up with a "Thank you, Ryuu! Bruh, you're the best ever, I so owe you a fucking ice cream!"

"You owe me, like, ten ice creams you nincompoop. Now, fist go where?"

"Right in the kisser!"

Tanaka took a step back, wound up his swing, and went in for the kill, but stopped right before his fist made contact with Noya's face.

"...This is gonna be harder than I thought. I mean, I've wanted to hit you loads of times, but not like, seriously hit you /hit you/,"

"Wait, you've wanted to punch me before?"

"Well yeah, when you've gotten me pissed."

"That's it! I've just gotta get you all riled up!"

"Right! Okay, bruh, gimme whatcha got!"

"Weeeeeeeeell, when you go forever without shaving your head you get this gross layer of, like, peach fuzz; and when you smile at girls you think you're being all seductive, but really you just scare them like crazy. Oh! Remember that one time during summer when you bought those white jeans? Yeah, I lied when I said they made your ass look great. And later that day when you when you sat on that melted chocolate bar in the park, I lied again and said no one would notice when _everyone_ noticed, and then I started laughing and you started laughing and-also, actually, you sound like a hyena deep throating another hyena when you laugh-and your dick is like barely three inches-and _that's_ even when you have a boner-"

One order of Fucking-Pissed-Tanaka-And-A-Punch-Right-To-The-Face coming right up.

Noya stumbled back, clutching his nose. When he brought his hands away from his face he noticed the blood staining his hands.

"Dude, I said my mouth! Not my nose, bro!"

"Oh, me and my _three inch dick_ are _so sorry!_ "

Noya couldn't hold back a snicker. Tanaka punched him again.

"Better?" Tanaka asked. Noya could feel the split on his lip.

"Better! Okay, so this time go for these guns." Noya said as he flexed his arms. Tanaka rolled his eyes.

"Oh, and Ryuu, no wonder girls don't wanna kiss you, you reek like a pig that's rolled around in rotting garbage!"

A few more fists came his way.

After examining his fresh new marks, Nishinoya frowned.

"This isn't really working, the bruises are too big and aren't painful enough!"

"They're fresh, give 'em time,"

"That's why I wanted to do this here at this terrifying hour of the morning; so I could sleep on these and have them look that much worse for tomorrow! But these bruise's are too splotchy and aren't gonna show or turn purple or anything, probably. I need one's that're scattered all over and are absolutely disgusting! I don't think punches can provide that,"

"What's the plan then, man?"

Noya observed his surroundings, looking up at the purples and reds of the various neon signs around them, up at the stars in the sky, up at the park and the hill next to it that was just a little ways away from where they were standing-

"Bingo! Follow me!"

Noya took off running and Tanaka followed suit. They ran and whooped and hollered and turned their running into a race. Since Noya was the one who knew where they were actually going, he won.

They stood, heaving and panting at the top of a little hill littered with trees and grass and flowers-and some broken beer bottles and what looked like used syringes.

"Perfect!" Noya bellowed.

"What is it this time?" Tanaka asked, still panting heavily.

"I need you to push me,"

"You want me to push you down this godforsaken hill?"

"As hard as you can!"

Exhaling a deep breath, Tanaka did as he was told, and Noya went rolling away with a few _thuds_ and eventually came to a stop when he rolled right into the playground equipment in the park. Specifically, he hit the base of the monkey bars pretty hard.

Tanka came half-running-half-stumbling after him, extremely concerned.

"Yo, Noya! You okay there pal?"

Noya was on all fours trying to scramble up, and when he finally managed to get to his feet, he fell right back down on his ass.

He was grinning all the same.

"Nope! And that's what I was going for!"

Honestly, he had a killer headache, it felt like his arms and legs were covered in a thousand paper cuts, and knees were bruised so bad it was no wonder he couldn't stand. It was perfect.

"You're a crazy dude, but you're my crazy dude bro. Come on, wanna head back to the Taco Bell KFC place and get some grub?"

"Fuck yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shout out to my pal dave for giving me an idea about fight club au where tanaka and noya beat each other up behind the taco bell to make it look like they got into a real big boy brawl that's kiiiinda where i got my inspiration from ha


	10. Chapter 10

"Guess who's got breakfast bitches!" Tanaka and Noya hollered in unison, shaking paper bags of fried and greasy foods. Noya had organized a meeting in the wee early hours for the Karasuno Crow 'n Go's, and he expected everyone to be there. Well, he really didn't, and part of him hoped they wouldn't show.

Because one of the _everybody's_ he invited to join in was Asahi.

And, as was expected of Noya's bad luck, Asahi was already in the little shed waiting for them.

And he flinched so hard at the two bro's loudness he nearly crashed into one of the crates lining the shed. Good job, Noya.

"Oh god-I mean hi, Asahi!" Noya was so smooth. Asahi obviously forced the smile he wore. Maybe Noya wasn't that smooth.

"Mornin' Asahi, you want a breakfast burrito?" Tanaka surprisingly offered, shaking a dripping bag in front of him.

"O-oh, um, no thank y-you, b-but thank you for the-"

"Nah, it's chill. You're cool with Noya ova here, so you're cool with me."

Noya's jaw dropped to the floor. Since when did Tanaka actually approve of Asahi? Hell, he didn't like the guy _three hours ago._ What happened?

Noya was just about to question him when Asahi spoke up, worry written in his eyes.

"A-are you okay? You look hurt."

_Shit._

"Oh! Yeah, I just got a head start! Yep, Tanaka over here," Noya elbowed Tanaka, who threw a questioning look at him in response, "was helpin' me get all these fake scratches and shit all over me for the fight today! And actually, I kinda got a new plan instead! Isn't that right, Ryuu?"

Noya was grinning too wide for it to be natural and Tanaka was beyond confused.

"Huh?"

Noya elbowed him harder.

"Y-yeah, totally! Uh huh!"

Asahi was a mix of skeptical and concerned, but since he had no real reason to not believe them, he went with it.

"...Okay," he said, voice soft, "what's the new plan, then, if you don't mind me asking?"

Noya beamed.

"Dude, it's so sweet! Okay, so-"

"Welp, that's my cue. Don't flirt with him to hard, Noya, I'm pretty sure you'd break him with all your oh so charming moves." Tanaka said with a snicker, walking out of the shed quickly.

Noya would've usually yelled something crude back at him, but he was caught so off guard he fought the flush of blood coursing throughout him, and (un)luckily for him, Asahi had enough secondhand embarrassment for the both of them.

Noya coughed into his fist and mumbled, "Ignore Ryuu, he's an ass sometimes. My bestie, but an ass,"

After a few more moments of terrifying silence, Asahi dug his heels into the ground anxiously.

"So, the um, the n-new plan?"

"Right!" That snapped Noya out of it, and he was now excitedly bouncing on the balls of his own heels.

"No fight. Not even a fake one! I've worked something even better out! I'm just gonna paint some wicked bruises and cuts and stuff on you and just /tell/ everyone we got into a fight and that I won! And when people ask you what happened, say you're terrified of me or somethin' like that, and I'll tell them I totally wiped the floor with you! And when he see each other in the halls, we'll just, like, glare at each other and then boom! Everyone will think we hate each other and that I beat you up!"

"...But I thought you said a," Asahi gulped, "f-fight would be extremely convincing?"

"This is just as convincing! Come on, it'll be great! I promise! Do I ever break my promises?"

"No, not to my knowledge, anyway."

"Wow, Mister Sarcastic Pants makes a comeback!"

Asahi snort-laughed. Noya smiled like an idiot at that stupid sound.

Alas, school would start in a couple of hours, so they had to get to work. It took Noya almost thirty minutes last time to do one black eye, it would take a hell of a long time to make it look like Asahi had been beaten to smithereens. But he could do it.

He /would/ do it.

"Arms up, gotta make it look like we really tussled. Roll your sleeves up, too, and keep 'em that way for the rest of the day." Noya instructed, and Asahi did as told, flinging his arms out to the side almost instantly. Then he realized he had forgotten to roll his sleeves up like he was told. And that he only needed one arm up at a time.

Sheepishly, lowered an arm and pushed white cotton up to the shoulder of the other one, looking at the ground.

"I can turn around, if you want." Noya offered. He thought Asahi was just being bashful, as always, over 'undressing' in front of him.

"No, it's okay, I just-uh-"

"It's not like I'm asking you to strip. Not that I'd mind, 'course."

Noya gave an all to friendly wink that was definitely just friendly. Yep, no ulterior motive whatsoever.

Okay yeah, honestly his wink may have been more flirty than friendly.

"...G-good to know?"

Asahi was now three shades of red and still looking at the ground. Noya, with a deep exhale, dragged a crate over to Asahi so he could stand on it in order to actually reach Asahi's arm and create a flurry of scratches and scars and bruises.

Noya almost forgot how muscular Asahi was, as it was one of the reasons people were scared of him, and had to stop himself from gulping as he took a toned arm in hand.

"Didn't you say you worked as a gardener or something during summers?"

"Mhm, I work at my uncle's gardening store. After graduation I'll be working full time there."

"No uni for you?"

"No, I don't do the, uh, best academically sometimes."

"That's cool," Noya shrugged, "I guess I'll just have to save up for a lotta plants next year!"

"...What?"

"I don't really do plants, but I guess it'd be neat! Maybe get some cool exotic one's or somethin', like those one's that eat flies and shit, yeah!"

"Why?"

"'Cause they're cool! That's why."

"No-I mean, why would you do that?"

"To have cool plants to be even cooler? And to visit you, of course!"

"...So after this whole...thing-you'd still-"

"Next arm!"

Noya dropped his left arm and motioned to Asahi's right. He complied, slowly raising his arm and turning around so Noya didn't have to move the crate over to his other side. Noya totally didn't sneak a peek at Asahi's butt. Oh yeah, definitely.

"And to answer your question, Asahi, hell yeah, I'd totally still wanna hang with you! I don't think you could be part of the gang, sadly, but whatevs, we're still /friends!/" He put a little too much emphasis on that last word.

Asahi fell quiet, but he was smiling. The rest of Asahi's wounds were painted on in silence, everything up until his eyes.

"...I couldn't get all the makeup off of my eye a few days ago, so there's still some-"

"That's good! It's fading away slowly, which makes it look even realer! Like it's healing and stuff! I can just give you another one on the other eye and then BAM! Two black eyes that look super convincing!"

Asahi grinned weakly at this, still feeling like he made a mistake with not being able to remove all the eye makeup off in the first place, and that Noya was just trying to make the best of his mistake by making more work for himself.

Nishinoya rolled his eyes.

"Don't gimme that look, Asahi, it's fuckin' fine! I promise! Now, eyes closed, buster,"

Asahi did as told and tried to stop the quaking in his stomach.

It was quiet now, all Noya's concentration focused on Asahi's face. He looked at all the creases in his forehead, far too many for a high schooler, and the little marks left by the remnants of acne, the tiny bit of stubble on his chin, how surprisingly long his eyelashes were, how cute the peaceful expression he currently wore was; totally normal things one would look at when examining someone's face.

"Eyes open,"

Noya never noticed how brown Asahi's eye's were.

He lined Asahi's waterline carefully with dark purple eyeliner before stepping back and looking at his work. He nodded, accepting his accomplishment, and sealed the makeup around Asahi's eyes.

Noya then quickly added a few bruises to Asahi's chin and cheeks and was surprised to find there were already some there.

"I-I fell, I swear." Asahi said, obviously terrified.

"Asahi-" Noya groaned angrily before sighing, shaking his head, "okay, you better tell me what /really/ happened later, 'cause right now we only got half-an-hour before school starts and it takes, like, fifteen minutes to walk from here to the classrooms, so that's even /less/ time to-"

"O-okay...I'm sorry,"

"It's okay, I promise, just-don't be afraid to tell me things, 'kay Asahi?"

"Alright,"

A few bruises, some scratches, and a busted lip later, and Asahi was ready. Or, almost ready, by Nishinoya's standards.

"There's somethin' missing..." Noya pondered, holding his chin between his forefinger and thumb, eyeing Asahi up and down.

Asahi was standing up now, and honestly he looked like a mess, a bloody, bruised mess. Which is what they were going for, actually.

But something just didn't sit right with Noya.

He circled Asahi like a bird of prey, Asahi quivering and watching him carefully.

Noya then jumped and clambered onto Asahi's back, scrambling to get Asahi's hair in his hands. Asahi, of course, panicked at not knowing what was going on, at having a small monkey-like-human clawing at his hair, and on top of it all, he was extremely concerned for Noya's safety. Asahi spun around wildly to try and get Nishinoya off of him, while Noya just clung on and messed with Asahi's hair.

Once Noya jumped off of him, the unexpected loss of weight caused Asahi to go flying into the wall of the shed, slamming face first into hard metal.

Noya's voice got caught in his throat. God, was Asahi really hurt now? Was he okay? Did he have a concussion? Did he give him a concussion?

Apparently, Asahi was fine, as he stumbled back and started chuckling.

Noya didn't even know Asahi _could_ chuckle.

"That was...fun?" Asahi said, smiling dumbly. Noya was seriously choking at the sight of the sweet, stupid smile.

"Yeah...!"

Asahi now looked like he had been thrown in a blender set on high. His usual bun had disappeared (along with his hair tie) and his long hair was now down and messily flowing down to his shoulders.

"Perfect!"

Noya took Asahi by the arm and dragged him over to the cracked mirror, standing proudly in front of it with two hands on his hips while Asahi shyly held his arms behind his back. Both marveled at how they looked: terrible, which was perfect.

But Asahi couldn't help but notice at how _real_ Noya's wounds looked compared to his own. His looked real, of course, but Noya's looked more...painful. It hurt Asahi to think about it. He was just about to ask Noya about it when the bell rang, signaling that classes would begin in ten or so minutes.

Both boys looked side eyed at each other, gulping.

"Shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> children pls
> 
> and holy cow this is getting such nice responses I'm really super duper smiling thank you all ouo


	11. Chapter 11

It was a day filled with stormy clouds and no rain, and two distraught boys were sitting in an ice cream shop that had little to no customers.

Asahi's face was melting, literally and metaphorically. His long, saddened expression and tears made it look like his face was sagging, and the stage makeup he was wearing was dripping away with sweat and water. Asahi basically looked like Dahli painting. It had rained briefly as the two boys made their way from school to the shop, and neither were in a hurry. In fact, they were in quite the opposite of hurry. Both had dragged their feet along the stone pathways of the park like ten ton weights were pulling them down, not caring that they got soaked.

Fate was cruel, for the moment they put one foot inside the doorway of _I Like To Spoon!_ , the heavens opened up and the rain stopped, bright skies lighting up the world, if only for a few seconds before the sun went back to hiding behind the clouds.

It was like the sun was taunting them, shining happiness and warmth in their faces for a small fraction of time, just enough to show them that what they craved was just in reach, yet not available.

It was torturous.

Noya's face was drawn together tightly, his eyes pointedly staring at his popsicle that was dripping like Asahi's face.

The silence engulfing the two was painful and depressing and neither of them knew how to break it. They stood still, like statues, neither moving or making a noise or trying to actually eat the food in front of them.

Nishinoya had each hand gripping the sides the wooden table horrendously hard, as if he could take his anger out by squeezing the table to death.

"You're bleeding." Asahi's voice was soft, limp, and his eyes were glassy as they looked over at the boy sitting across from him. Noya's head whipped upwards, and though he still held his tight expression, he loosened his grip just a bit.

"Noya, your hands. They're bleeding."

Noya glanced down at his hands quickly and noted how the cracks on his knuckles had reopened and grown, a small amount of blood oozing from them.

"Don't care." he said to Asahi, grinding his teeth.

"You should care-"

"Why?! Why should I fucking care! Please, en-fuckin'-lighten me, Asahi!" Noya screeched, pushing down on his hands to raise himself up from the table. Asahi flinched at his loudness, begging him to calm down with his expression.

"B-because-"

"Because nothin'! I don't care and I shouldn't because nothin' matters! The plan was a fucking flop, Asahi! Everything's _worse!_ " Noya was screaming now, he was seething with anger and all Asahi could do was cower under him.

The plan had failed miserably. Noya didn't take into account the fact that he looked ten times worse than Asahi since his wounds were real, and that he would keep looking worse and worse as the day went by and his wounds would turn into darker, sicker shades. Despite him and Asahi telling people over and over again that Noya won the 'fight' they had, people still suspected Asahi to have been the winner and the most brutal out of the two of them, insisting that Nishinoya couldn't stand his ground against a guy like Asahi.

The rumors got worse when gym rolled around and Asahi had to change into shorts; he had absolutely no markings on his legs, unlike Noya, so that led more suspicion to be drawn from his peers.

At the end of the day only a handful of people knew the _Crow 'n Go's_ existed, everyone thought Asahi was even more terrifying than they initially thought, and Noya was reduced to being the victim of this whole ordeal.

Asahi was shivering under Noya's gaze, the anger coming out of him in hot waves that hit Asahi right to his core.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry-"

"Save it!"

Noya was beyond pissed. He was furious. It was foolproof, every part, every idea, every piece, and every memory they made was supposed to be perfect.

_It was perfect._

Except it wasn't.

Somehow their luck turned to shit in the span of a day, everything they worked so hard for had been lost, in a single _fucking day_. Everyone now thought Asahi was worse than they imagined and Noya, well actually, Noya was given a fairly good deal by everything that had happened. Even though he was the 'victim', he gave the _Crow n' Go's_  at least a little publicity, Nishinoya had given them the potential to flourish.

Asahi could only diminish.

All Asahi wanted to do was shrink down until he was invisible, until he didn't exist anymore. He knew that rumors were short lived, but reputations weren't. He'd be thought of as they guy who beat up the kid who looked like a middle schooler forever, and neither him nor Noya wanted that accusation to last.

They _couldn't_ let it last.

They needed another plan.

But right now, both their spirits were so down that neither one of them could come up with anything remotely helpful. Especially Noya, he was beyond help now, he was a volcano that was ready to blow. Actually, a volcano that had already blown. A volcano that was seeing red and couldn't think straight or concentrate. A volcano that didn't notice when his yells and shouts scared Asahi so much that the taller of the two ran off quickly, trying to hold back tears.

It wasn't until the red faded from Noya's vision and his hand slipped into the ice cream puddle on the table that he snapped out of his angry trance. Then he noticed how his hands were stinging and sticky and how bad he felt all over.

Noya angrily tossed some paper bills out onto the table to cover the expense of the ice cream and hopefully enough for a tip for poor Yamaguchi, who would have to clean up his mess.

The blood had started to dry on his knuckles and Noya was still mad, but now he was mad and worried. Mad and worried about how he would have to fix things, because undoubtedly he'd have to try something to get everything on the right track again.

But mostly his anger was directed at Asahi; he was pissed that he had left him, that he was somewhere else in this godforsaken town without him. He could be alone, he could be hurting, actually no; Asahi _was_ alone and hurting right now, Noya was sure of it.

It pissed him off.

They were both so pissed and angry and Noya was powerless against their feelings. Against Asahi's feelings.

God, feelings.

"Don't even get me started on that crap." Noya groaned to himself, shaking his head to get the thoughts of _feelings_ to leave him.

It didn't work.

All he could think about was how badly things had gone, how much he _cared_ about Asahi, how everything was finally looking up and now-crying. He heard crying.

Noya started walking faster. The crying got louder and more strained and he started running towards the sound.

Eventually he came to a very small, very creaky bench in the park with a shitload of pigeons either flying over it or walking in circles around the rotting piece of wood.

Besides the pigeons, a crying Asahi was sitting precariously on the bench.

Noya would have laughed any other time, it was hilarious seeing the huge Asahi on this teeny tiny bench with a thousand pigeons swarming it.

But instead, Nishinoya carefully walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, to which Asahi flinched hard enough to shake Noya's hand off of him and send a few pigeons fluttering away.

"S-sorry..." Asahi stuttered, eyes wide and teary.

"It's okay, Asahi. I should be sorry for blowing up at you like that, it was a-"

"D-dick move?"

Noya gave a proud smile and shooed some pigeons away from the bench so he could sit next to Asahi.

"I didn't know you could use such strong language, mister!"

"I think you've been a bad influence on me."

"Probably." Noya shrugged, somehow beaming even though he was angry at the world no less than five minutes ago. Asahi was smiling, wiping the tears off of his puffy face and pulling a strand of hair behind his ear.

They sat there for a while, watching the sun set and occasionally brushing pigeons off each other's shoulders.

Somewhere along the way, they had scooted closer together, so much that now their sides were pressed against one other's, thighs touching.

Asahi was surprised to find that Noya was the warmer of the two.

"It'll work out, it has to." Noya said, determination in his voice.

"...I guess."

"No, it will!"

"Sure..."

"Say it, Asahi! It'll work out!"

"It'll...it will work out."

"Louder!"

"It will work out."

"I can't hear you!"

"It will work out!"

"Fuck yeah it will!"

Noya was looking up at Asahi with a grin on his face, expecting to see a similar smile on Asahi.

He wasn't smiling.

Asahi's mouth was still pulled in two deep curves downward and he wouldn't stop looking at Noya with those wide brown eyes of his that Noya was sure he'd swoon over if they weren't so filled with sadness.

"You're hurt."

Asahi was whispering for whatever reason and Noya just laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You mean my hands? Nah, they stopped bleedin' a while ago-"

"Not just that, all of you. You're hurt all over. Those scratches and bruises are real, aren't they?"

Noya gulped.

"Haha, what're you talkin' 'bout? These are one-hundred percent-"

"Don't lie to me."

Those four words made Noya feel like Tanaka punched him ten times over in the gut.

"I'm not lying!"

"Noya-"

"Asahi-"

Noya was determined to keep his trap shut about the fact he actually _was_ hurt and Asahi was just as determined to get the truth out of him.

"Noya..." Asahi started, slowly and carefully, "pinky promise me that you're not lying. You once told me you don't break your promises, so promise me you aren't lying."

Asahi held out his pinky right in front of Noya, waiting for him to jump up and say _Of course I never break my promises! I'm a-okay!_

But he never did.

"If I made that promise I'd...be breaking it..." he muttered, swinging his legs back and forth under the bench.

If Asahi's eyes could get wider, they just did, and an overwhelming feeling of secondhand anxiousness and pain filled him to the brim.

"I'm fine, though! It's all in a days work!" Noya practically cheered, snapping his neck back around to face Asahi with a grin that was much too forced. Asahi's frown deepened and his eyes widened in a tremendous mix of worry and horror. Noya was gushing out excuse after excuse, laughing in the middle of his sentences to put even more emphasis on the whole /I'm perfectly fine!/ thing, but stopped once he noticed an outstretched hand in front of him, shakily holding what looked like small strips of white paper.

"They're-bandaids, I've always tried to keep them on hand and-and I think you need them." Asahi explained. Noya sat there, frozen and transfixed, and became even more livid when he opened the wrapping up and found that they were _Hello fucking Kitty bandaids._

"Asahi, oh my god, _really?_ " Noya held up the bright pink strip of plastic, waving it with vigor, all grins and sarcasm.

"T-they were half priced..."

Noya snorted at that, believing that Asahi would definitely buy _Hello Kitty Bandaids_ for the price and just because he was Asahi and probably found them cute.

He proceded to roll up his sleeve to the shoulder and slap the sparkly, cartoon cat-infested bandaid on a small scratch.

"Manly, huh?" Noya winked. Asahi rolled his eyes, but couldn't bite down the smile bubbling up.

"Very. The manliest." Or the cutest.

Asahi keept handing Noya more and more bandaids and was forever grateful for the deep pockets that graced his pants, and simultaneously felt terrible for all the women's pants that didn't hold up to the deep pocketed standard. Maybe he could write a strongly worded letter to a women's clothing company later? Right now, though, he had to deal with a rambunctious Nishinoya Yuu, who was currently trying to put a bandaid over his own eye like a demented, idiotic pink pirate. Asahi found that extremely adorable, until Noya leaned over and placed an equally pink one on his nose.

"We both look like super tough guys now, right? Right?"

The two burst into laughter, closer than ever now. Noya hadn't backed away from Asahi one bit, and he had to get pretty close to reach up and get that bandaid on his schnauze. Their laughing died down to small giggles and snort-laughs.

"I never thought pink would be your color, though it _totally_ makes sense in retrospect," Noya said with a wink.

"It's a cute color, thank you very much," Asahi responded with a thoughtful nod.

"It's a cute color on you, that's for sure,"

Asahi blinked, and then Noya got _even close to his face_ and booped his nose. Asahi's face was the color of his bandaid.

"Oh yeah, totally cute!" Noya nodded his head, much like how Asahi had done before, grin lighting up his features.

"N-no-"

"Yes!"

"Y-you're the c-cute one!" Good job on the 'oh god I'm panicking' compliment, Asahi.

Now it was Noya's turn to be as pink as the  _Hello Kitty_ bandaids. God, they were both pink in the face and close enough that they could feel each other's breaths coming out in slow puffs and the sun was just setting on the horizon and Noya _knew_ that in romcoms this was the moment where all he had to do was lean in a _teeny tiny bit more and-_

Instead of getting a smooch from Asahi, Noya got a squawking pigeon to the face. He was more than a little disappointed as he flailed around wildly to get the bird out of the way and-

Asahi was smiling, wide and bright, and oh god Noya was going to faint it was that _fucking smile_ that lit his heart up, even if Asahi's face was covered in feathers and dirt, and a bandaid.

"...Fuckin' literal cock block," he mumbled. Asahi was still smiling that dumb smile and seemed to be in some sort of happy daze.

"Actually, it would be a cock block if the bird had been a chicken, but since it was a pigeon-"

" _Oh my god, Asahi._ "

Asahi started to laugh, and when Asahi laughed, Noya couldn't help but join in. Even if he got, for political corrective-ness, _pigeon blocked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I REALLY LIKE PIGEONS AND I WANTED TO INCORPORATE THEM INTO THIS SOMEHOW
> 
> also these dweebs are gonna kill me one day


	12. Chapter 12

_i have a new plan asahi!!!!!_

That was the text Asahi received at one-thirty-two A.M.

Noya didn't say anything else about this apparent 'plan' he had. He didn't tell Asahi he needed to meet him at some ungodly hour of the morning, he didn't say that there was a _Crow 'n Go_ meeting he was invited to attend, he didn't tell him if this plan involved fight, fake or otherwise, and he didn't give a single detail.

Asahi was terrified.

Asahi needed to know specifics, he needed to know what was happening. If he didn't, he would jump to every conclusion under the sun, utterly terrified of the actually outcome of whatever this was.

This was a situation that concerned him, a situation that could have awful consequences, no, Asahi had a feeling that this _would_ have awful consequences.

He needed a full explanation of what was going to happen.

What he got was a vague statement he couldn't wrap his head around.

Asahi didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

\---

Asahi walked through the entrance of Karasuno with heavy bags under his eyes, a bun tied back even messier than usual, and a gait that was limp and tired. He heard more whispers and gossip and for a brief second, before he almost fell asleep standing straight up, he wondered what it was like to go unnoticed, what it _would_ be like to be unnoticed.

As he made his way into his classroom, setting his bag down on his desk and falling into his chair, utterly relieved, he wondered if there was any point in his life where he blended into the background, besides when he was with his parents, of course.

As a small child, he was pretty average. Good enough grades, a few friends he never grew especially close to, that sort of thing. Up until junior high, that's what his life was like. Then suddenly, in the first summer of working for his uncle after grade school graduation, puberty hit like a haywire electric train.

Asahi grew eight inches in a week, had the start of lean muscles in his forearms and back and calves, and hair _everywhere_.

Luckily his uncle was there for him, explaining in gross detail the cycle of life for the young teenage boy that he would be experiencing from then on. After a few weeks of mortification at having to go through that talk, he started getting the hang of this whole 'growing up' thing. Or at least he thought he was. For the longest time he didn't even realize that when people spoke of the 'burly kid who's totally mixed up with the wrong crowd', they were talking about him.

The day he figured out what people where saying about him was the day he found out about his father's drinking habit.

That was the day he really grew, not in inches, but in both fear.

His eyelids were just closing with exhaustion when he came to the conclusion that around the time people started talking bad about him coincided with when his father started downing alcohol like it was the last source of water in the desert.

Asahi wasn't able to elaborate on that discovery, because the sliding door that connected his classroom to the hallway had been flung open with such gusto it gave way to a gust of wind and the homework of the unlucky souls who sat near the door were sent fluttering throughout the room, making it look like it was snowing English Lit reports, and the loud _slam_ was heard echoing throughout the room.

Everything was in slow motion for Asahi. The papers came dwindling down slowly, and when they had all reached the floor he had a clear view of the door, and standing in it was none other than Nisihinoya Yuu, signature grin on his face and hands on his hips.

"Asahi!"

Noya raised his arm high and dropped it low, giving a thumbs up and a somehow toothier, happier, grin.

"Have a great day!"

And with that he dashed away, leaving Asahi exceptionally confused and flustered.

\---

"Noya, was that your plan?"

Asahi was concerned at the grotesque amount of ice cream Noya was shoveling into his mouth. He was using two spoons. They were in public for Christ's sake.

Noya finished off another two spoonfuls of iced dairy product with an audible swallow, and beamed up at Asahi with another super duper big grin.

"Of course!"

Asahi exhaled and hung his head. He was really hoping Noya would spill a few more beans, maybe a whole can full. Instead Noya was celebrating by himself, eating enough ice cream to make Asahi's stomach hurt from just looking at him.

"Um Noya, you have a little-"

"Did you just call me little?"

"No! Of course not!"

"God Asahi, fuckin' rude,"

Asahi held up his hands in surrender, having lost this battle, and instead went towards Noya with a napkin in hand. He felt like a mother wiping off the food smudged on her child's cheeks when he leaned over to clean the smutz off of Noya's mouth, but he also felt like it was a somehow endearing gesture. He found that he wanted it to be a different kind of endearing.

Part of him wanted to kiss the melted sundae off of him, never mind the ache in his stomach that would be sure to come later.

He knew he'd never have the guts to actually do that, but even the thought of _kissing_ him sent shivers down his spine and made his heart race. It also made him rest his hand against Noya's cheek for a few moments too long.

"Thanks for that, I mean I'm pretty sure I'm capable of cleaning up after myself, and I know my face is so super irresistible to and hard _not_ to touch, but your hand's been on my face for a while. You okay?"

Asahi flinched away, instantly pulling his hand against his side defensively. Gosh, he was frazzled by that one small comment, in more ways than one.

"S-sorry-"

"You're good," Noya responded, with a wide eyed, blank look.

Asahi usually wondered what was happening in other peoples heads, what they were really thinking, but right now he would kill all the flies in the world to know what was happening in Noya's noggin.

He really wished he was born a mind reader, it would've helped him so much throughout his life. If he knew what people thought of him, all done to the specifics of how he dressed and what expression he wore, he could change it so he could be more acceptable. He could finally fit in maybe, he could-

"Hello? Earth to Asahi? You there?"

Noya was practically bellyflopping the table in order to reach across to Asahi and tap his head with his knuckles, like he was knocking on a door.

"Y-yes! Here, I'm here, sorry,"

"Nothin' to apologize for, just makin' sure my favorite giant's okay. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!"

" _Asahi-_ "

"I promise!"

"...Pinky promise?"

"Noya-"

"Asahi. Pinky. Promise?"

Asahi had lost this battle, too.

"I'm just-what even is your plan?"

Noya blinked up at him, pinky finger still extended, then fell back _guffawing._ Asahi was just the smallest bit annoyed by his action.

"What? Did I miss something?"

"You missed something plain as day, Asahi!" Noya cackled, now laying on his back like an overturned turtle on his side of the booth.

"What?"

"The new tactic!"

"What new tactic?"

" _Asahi-_ "

" _Noya-_ "

Asahi couldn't hold back a giggle. Just the sight of a giddily happy Noya after the past few days of discomfort put his heart at ease. He pressed a hand to his mouth, but he could barely stop the flowing laughter that was pouring out of him now. He couldn't help it. Noya's laugh was infectious, and laughter meant happiness, and nothing made Asahi happier than seeing Noya happy.

The two of them were laughing and red and so utterly, stupidly happy, Asahi forgot all about asking Noya what the oh so important part of the plan he missed was.


	13. Chapter 13

_"Did you see them at that ice cream parlor?"_

_"I heard they helped a little old lady cross the street!"_

_"Nu uh! They stopped a robber from harassing an old lady cabbage vender!"_

_"Are they dating?"_

_"What? No way! They're just close friends!"_

_"The little one alway tells the thug to have a good day, every single morning, I would know! I'm in his class!"_

_"Yeah, and they totally hold hands when they're together, I've seen it in action,"_

_"So, are they dating or?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"No!"_

After a week of publicly being _nice_ to each other, nothing more than a few traded smiles and hello's and have a nice day's, and gossip of a different kind started to spread. The big thing going around Karasuno High wasn't that the shorty and the thug got in a fight, it was wether or not the shorty and the thug were _dating._

This was not how Noya thought the plan would go. Not that he was complaining.

"So, are you two goin' out? 'Cause while I approve, you know Saeko's gonna want to-"

"Oh my god, Ryuu, _we are not_ _dating._ "

Noya was shuffling around in the _Crow 'n Go_ HQ again, looking for who knows what. Actually, he knew what. He was looking for the hair tie he sorta flung out of Asahi's hair against his will from when they were still committed to his first plan. Noya just woke up this morning and went, "Did Asahi ever get back that hair thing? He didn't, did he?" and made it his duty to return the small piece of elastic back to him.

Tanaka snorted, slipping Noya a sly grin.

"It seems to me that yes, you at least _wanna_ date him and-"

"Ryuu! We've been over this!"

"Uhh, no? We haven't?"

"God, you know what I mean!"

"Fine, I guess I'll go an' confirm everyone's suspicions that yes, you two are-"

"Ryuu!"

Noya jumped him, latching onto Tanaka's leg like a stubborn child clinging to their parents leg on their first day of school.

"I was kiddin'! Noya, I was fuckin' jokin'! Oh my-"

"I swear I will tell everyone about your collection of-"

"Don't say it!"

"American Beanie Babies that you've had since you were nine!"

Tanaka gave a swift kick and launched Noya into the wall.

"You swore you'd never tell! God, Noya, you little-fine. Fine! I won't say anything, not even to Asahi. Happy?"

"Ecstatic!"

\---

"N-noya, what are you-"

"It's a surprise, Asahi! I already told you that!"

Asahi blindly stumbled into _I Like To Spoon!_ , Noya holding his hand and leading him around. He was doing a pretty bad job of it, too. Asahi had bumped into three tables, a booth, and a doorway already, and he hadn't even been in there for five minutes. Noya convinced him that he had some huge surprise for Asahi, something that was so great and amazing that he wasn't allowed to open his eyelids until Noya said.

Asahi really didn't like surprises. Even though he had an oddly good feeling about this one, he still didn't like the idea of surprises as a whole.

Especially if they involved Noya.

All of a sudden, Asahi was pulled down by a small, destructive source named Nishinoya Yuu, who was telling him to shoosh and scoot into the booth. Asahi picked up on the rustling of papers and tableware briefly, and he could almost hear the smile in Noya's voice as he said

"Okay, aaaaaand now!"

Asahi opened his and before him sat a menu. The menu to the ice cream parlor, but other than that, it was just a menu.

"Oh, um, it's great, Noya,"

"...That's it?"

"R-really great!"

Noya's face was broken, like the mirror in the school's shed. Asahi could see him crack with sadness, the emptiness in his eyes.

"It's a great menu! I-I swear-"

"Wait, what?"

All of a sudden, Noya seemed to brighten.

"You don't see it, do you?" he asked, the smile in his voice making a reappearance.

"I see the uh...m-menu?" Asahi said with an embarrassed shrug. It then when he realized that he and Noya were sitting together, not across from each other like usual. Noya gave a small laugh and picked up Asahi's hand in his own, dragging his pointer finger across the sheet of paper.

"Riiiiight there!" he announced brightly.

Asahi squinted and looked at the small script of words with a little yellow _New!_  sticker next to it.

"...A soy milkshake?"

"Read the title, read the title!"

"The-"

"The Asahi Special Soy Milkshake! Okay, see Tanaka's sister, Saeko, it totally tight with the owner of this place, and I asked her if she could ask him if I could maybe perhaps suggest something to add to the menu, and-"

"...You named a milkshake after me?"

" _A soy milkshake._ Since you're lactose intolerant and stuff,"

"Noya I-"

"Oh god, Asahi why are you crying? Is it that bad? I can tell them to take it off-"

"No, I love it. I really, really love it," Asahi said, tears in the corners of his eyes and a smile on his face wider than the perimeter of an elephant. Noya was overjoyed.

"Also, one more thing!" Noya dug around in his pockets for second, pulling out lint and coins and debris, until he found a little square box.

He pushed it towards Asahi, ushering him to open it with the glint in his eyes and wild hand gestures. Gulping, Asahi fiddled with the little box with shaking fingers, and pried it open, finally, to reveal-

"It's your hair tie from forever ago, remember? I even found this sick box that was the perfect size!"

Asahi burst out laughing, and crying, but mostly laughing. Noya was concerned and for a moment thought Tanaka was right, that he _had_ broken him.

"Asahi-"

"I love it, Noya. It means so, so much, I just-I love it all. Thank you so much." Asahi was sniffling and giggling and had that stupid dopey smile on and Noya couldn't hold back his verbal filter any longer.

"You're adorable, you know that?"

Asahi froze up, he thought he was hearing things.

"What?"

"It's now or never, I guess..." Noya muttered before taking a huge breath.

"Okay, so, just putting this out on the table here, but I think you're, like, the cutest person alive ever."

"O-oh...b-b-but I-I," Asahi gulped, "I c-can't be,"

"What? Yes you can!"

"N-n-no."

"Why not?"

"B-because you exist."

"...Azumane Asahi, that was _the smoothest thing_ I've ever heard."

Asahi smiled at his little hair tie.

"I try."

"Since when?" Noya scoffed, the smile never falling from his face.

"Since you showed up."

"I'm swooning here, Asahi!"

Except Noya really was swooning. He was head over heels for Asahi, and now that he was about ninety-five percent sure Asahi felt something similar, he-

His entire train of thought stopped. Noya's mind went completely and utterly blank and he felt something warm and heavenly connect with his cheek. He snapped his head around when he felt that heat leave him and a flush of new heat overtake him, only to spot Asahi, who looked like a deer in the headlights, looking back at him in mortification.

"I-I! I-it was just u-um, a-a t-t-t-thank you f-for-"

"You can do it again. I mean, if you want-or you know what?"

"W-what?"

"If you _really_ wanna say thank you, you can let me kiss you _properly._ "

"I-I-I'd be okay with that, m-more than okay a-actually! Um, just-yes, please." Asahi squeaked.

Noya happily obliged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO 
> 
> and thus ends this one, sorry for the wacky update schedule, and thank you for all your nice and encouraging words!! 
> 
> next time on asanoya by me: goodburger au and/or theater au
> 
> have a lovely day all!! ovo


End file.
